


Hidden Doors

by animajunki123



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Monster Girl Encyclopedia
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crossover, Fluff and Smut, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:41:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 208,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29289258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animajunki123/pseuds/animajunki123
Summary: Sometimes, Life can throw unusual things at you. In this case of one in-training Military serviceman, he never expected that his simple walk to the on-base commissary would have led to something quite world altering...
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Andrew looked from his left, and then to his right. He then looked to his left again, followed by his head swiveling itself back to the right side of his body. He continued to do this head turning a few more times, his mind not quite agreeing with what his eyes where currently showing him in regards to his surroundings until eventually he stopped looking around. He slowly reached into his right cargo pocket on his military fatigues and pulled out a high intensity flashlight. He didn't fumble at all, but for a moment, he hesitated as he brought it up. The reason for the hesitation being that a few moments ago, he had been walking in the basking rays of the sun, just having finished up with gathering a few things at the military exchange. Some snacks for when he needed to study, a thermos he just bought and a gallon of water that he was going to pour into it along with a brand-new blanket that he could call his own. No more of the military issued one. Nope, this one was microfiber and downright comfy to sleep in. It had been the ending to a long day of study and he had wanted to get this out of the way before he settled down for his afternoon routine. Said routine did not happen to have the sun turn itself out just as one walks into the crosswalk on the way back to the dorm. Andrew turned his flashlight on, and once again, the sight of what was going on around him wasn't quite breaking the mental barrier of ‘this seriously cannot be real right now.’ 

Whereas Andrew had just been outside in the cold of mid-November with the delightful sight of grass, shrubbery, and just the outdoors in general, he currently found that not only had the sun vanished, but so had the outdoors as well. His current station of standing was no longer in the middle of a crosswalk, but instead in the middle of a warm, dusty, and slightly odd smelling stone hallway. The brick seemed to be made of some bluish material if he could hazard a guess, though it could just as well be black due to the fact that the LED light didn't seem to shine on it so much as shine into it. He had no idea if that was the best way to describe it, but it's all he could say really. Going back to the looking game, Andrew found that the hall was spacious, enough to fit a nice big truck down if someone so ordained to do so. Even better in this situation was that in front of him about 20 or so feet looked to be a doorway/archway that was dimly illuminated by, get this, a large crystal embedded in the stone frame at the apex of the arch. Turning to look behind him, Andrew could see a large span of hallway behind him that went on and on so much that he didn't even see an end to it. Turning back to the arch in front of him, Andrew simply breathed in deeply before he finally let his innermost thoughts out. 

“Where in the hell am I and how in the deep blue fuck did I get here.”

Thankfully he hadn't been expecting an answer for that question, but the fact still remained that he was in a situation that he didn't know how to explain in circumstances that where equally as hard to verbalize without sounding like a lunatic. Letting out a weighty sigh, Andrew started to talk to himself again, mostly out of a sense of comfort for himself, but also because verbalizing his inner thoughts just helped him to think better. 

“Alright then… I can't make heads or tails of this situation as of right now… But I see a doorway in front of me. That normally means that it goes, somewhere right? Might as well check it out.”

With such simple and reasonable logic behind him, Andrew made his way to the archway until he stood right in front of it. However, upon reaching it, he stopped. He had noted something odd about it at first when he shined his light into the door, but being this close up he could see what it was that was bothering him. The light just seemed to stop when it hit the darkness. He hadn't given it much thought further back, but being this close up, he expected the light to do its job and illuminate for him to see further. However, it just seemed to stop cold right at the doorway. Upon further inspection, he could see that the dark wasn't… Normal. Unlike what one might find at night, this darkness seemed More… inky, deep, and all around as if light didn't dare go into it. That should have been the first signal that maybe he shouldn't go this way, that he should turn around and go back the long way. However, Andrew was still using normal logic in this anything but logical situation. So, thinking that maybe there was something in the way, he tried to go through it by lifting his right hand and pushing the thing out of the way. 

‘Regret’ was in no way near a strong enough word for what happened next. For a moment, Andrew felt the texture of what felt to him like a cool, smooth gel ball brush against the palm of his hand. The moment after that could only be described as fascinatingly horrifying. The darkness rippled for a moment before it seemed to erupt around his hand and latch onto him. Andrew could only feel an icy agony lance across the whole of his body as the darkness spread faster than anything he had ever seen move in his life. His mind could only barely register the darkness as pain like no other continued to pulse through his body the longer he stayed in contact with it, but deeper still, he felt as if his very soul was being filling with ice and broken apart bit by bit. He couldn't breath as he collapsed to the floor, the light rolling away from him as it slipped from his grasp. He had no idea how long this went on for, but eventually, the pain was too much for his mind to take and Andrew just felt himself shut down.

The next thing he knew, he was waking up with his face on the floor and a feeling like his body had been stuffed through a meat grinder about 8 times over. He still hurt, a lot in fact, but it wasn't as unbearable as it had been a bit ago. Slowly pushing his body up off the ground, Andrew found himself shaking from both the pain he had just gone through, and a strange coolness that seemed to seep out from inside him. Not sure of what to think about any of this anymore, Andrew found his flashlight rolled a bit of a ways off and slowly crawled over and picked it up. He then dragged himself to the closest section of wall he could find and got himself to his feet, albeit with a lot of effort on his part. Taking his time with his movements so as not to over exert his body, Andrew turned around to look at the archway that had just caused his terrible episode. However, though the doorway was still there, the dark thing on the other side was not. Now all that could be seen was a large empty room. There was nothing in it; and it certainly didn't lead anywhere useful. All Andrew could do was feel frustrated at all this. The pain, the cold in his body, and the fact that he still had no idea what was going on. Channeling that frustration, the young man turned himself around and started to make his way down the long hallway to… Somewhere at this point. Thankfully, after walking a good distance, the pain in his body had managed to subside to a dull ache, a small blessing in of itself, but the cold in his body was a constant. It was somewhat worrying to be sure, especially after what happened with the darkness, but he didn't feel that much different. For a while, he couldn't get a good gauge of time in the stone hallway, all Andrew could do was simply keep single-mindedly moving forward, and with such a straightforward resolve, he was rewarded with a simple yet very effective reward. He eventually managed to come to another archway in the far end of the hall, this one not blocked by inky evil and actually leading somewhere. That place being upward in the form of a stone stairway. 

Andrew didn't feel like climbing any kind of stairs right at that moment, but he learned in his life that it was best to just suck it up and tough it out. With a single sigh of resignation, Andrew took one step onto the stairway, followed by another, then another until eventually that first step was succeeded by several hundred more. 

Andrew had to admit that for the first couple of dozens of steps or so, he was simply happy to be getting somewhere. However, that simple joy slowly had turned into annoyance as the stairs simply just kept going and going with no clear end in sight. It wasn't until he finally had climbed for what he estimated to be 30 minutes with his body tired and the cold feeling in his gut simply getting colder that his patience had drawn to a close. 

“Alright, seriously, what the hell! Where is the end of this goddamned stairwe-”

Just as he said that, the next step finally allowed him to see a glimmer of light up above him. It wasn't a lot of light, but it was certainly better than the darkness he was used to seeing at this point. 

“Of course,… The absolute moment I say something…”

Andrew grumbled a little more to himself, but the sight of an end to this stairwell hell was enough to push back his frustration. However, the sight of the stairway continuing to go on and into a massive cavern straight out of the abyss with no handrails turned that small semblance of joy into a combined emotion of astonishment and terror. 

“Oh my dear God above what in the fuck…” Was all he managed to get out before the sound of the wind howling below him shut him up and swallow in fright. 

“Well… Alright then…”

Andrew really didn't want to say anything anymore in fear that his complaining might bring about some karmic slap to the face to tell him to shut up. So he simply looked down one more time, swallowed yet again before he mustered the courage and walked out on the stairs. Thankfully the steps where just as wide as the hallway behind him, so he had a little comfort in the space he was granted, and thus he stayed in the middle to avoid any little accidents. Fortunately, he could see the other side of the ravine and where the steps lead on the other side. It wasn't a long walk at all, but Andrew still felt a sense of vertigo overcome him when he would look a little too far off to the side and see the bottomless canyon below. Oddly enough, the cold in his body just kept getting colder as time went on, and in truth, he was starting to get worried about it. The chill of the wind didn't do much to help him, and even when he managed to get to the other side, albeit with a few gusts of wind making him panic along the way, he was more worried about why his body didn't seem to be warming up. However, all he could do was keep going. Further on and further in, and thus that's what Andrew found himself doing.

When he did manage to make it to the other side of the canyon, the long hallway that greeted him was something of a familiar sight, but unlike the last one, this one had two doorways for him to follow. Sadly, they both seemed to be heading in different directions, and he wasn't sure which would be the right way to get out of this tomb. However, if he was undecided, all he had to do was leave it to fate. Pulling out a coin, Andrew decided to call the direction based on the side it landed on, heads right, tails left. It made sense, and he quickly found himself doing said method. The coin landed on heads, and sticking to the luck of a coin toss, Andrew followed it. Sadly, he found that this was not to be the only instance he would use the coin to get a direction. 

For the next few hours or so, Andrew found himself using a coin toss to determine his direction in this maze of stone. It all looked the same to him, and no path had any kind of indicators for him to find his way. Thankfully Andrew had the foresight to write down his progress the second time he had to do a coin toss, but he found that double side of four sheets of paper filled with directions was starting to get excessive. Even worse was the fact that the cold in his body had spread, slowing his movements and making it harder for him to keep moving the longer he went on. He eventually had pulled out the blanket he bought (the fact he still had his bag of items was surprising to him) and wrapped it around his body to try to warm himself up or retain what heat he had left. But it only seemed to affect his outer body. For some reason, it just didn't seem to get much deeper than the skin. It felt especially cold around his heart, he had no idea why that was, but he was having problems feeling his own heartbeat at times. 

Another few hours of this later and Andrew finally found himself unable to keep going. His body was sluggish, unresponsive and feeling as if all the heat had been drained out of him. Not even the blanket he had wrapped so tightly around his body could keep the cold at bay. Andrew found himself, against his minds urge to keep going, sitting down in the long hall he found himself in, the sight of another split in the road simply filling him with added disappointment on his situation. 

He knew it wasn't a good idea, that stopping would probably be the end, but he just couldn't find it in him to keep going. The dark thing he touched did something to him, and he knew deep in the back of his mind, that it was killing him. He had no idea how to stop it or to even prevent it at this point, but he was finding it hard to even care. 

"So this is how I die huh? Well… Shit…”

Well, maybe he cared a little bit; but he knew that it was going to be inevitable at this rate if something or someone didn't come along and try to help him. He found that it would be a pretty nice turn of events of something did happen… Like maybe an angel from on high coming to give him a second chance, or a demon coming out of nowhere to sell him a new life like in those manga he used to read so often. Oddly enough, something did happen a minute later. Andrew had to strain to hear it, but he thought he heard footsteps, followed by low voices. It wasn't until another minute later when he was sure he heard it. Voices and footsteps, all sounding like they were coming closer via one of the splits in the path. 

“This is clearly the wrong way.”

“And how exactly in this ever-present gray stone labyrinth are we to tell which way is different from the other? Please, do tell how you know which way to go darling, I'd love to hear it.”

“Ladies, can we perhaps not worry about this right now? We need to find the end of this maze so we can take care of the evil nestled here.”

Andrew was surprised to hear voices, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. However, before he could do anything about grabbing attention, the voices rounded the corner of the path closest to the left and Andrew was looking directly into the surprised faces of a party of three. The first face to catch his attention was the face of the older looking woman who stood a head taller than the other two. Though old was just the first word that came to mind, she actually looked to be in her early to mid-twenties. She was beautiful in her own right with long brown hair that seemed to shine even in this dismally lit labyrinth. Her eyes where a sharp gray and nicely almond shaped, her other facial features seemed to tell him that she was a beautiful but cold looking woman. Her outfit, God have mercy, was some kind of Mage outfit. A single dress with slits up the side so she could walk easily and a rather large witches hat on her head. She even had a gnarly twisted staff that ended with a crystal embedded in the wood. The next person to catch his attention was the woman that he could only attribute to an elven archer. 

No joke. As far as he could tell, she was an elf who used a bow. Long golden blonde hair tied up into twin pigtails that went well to her legs, an outfit that seemed to be woven from green leaves and vines, sharp and slightly slanted blue eyes, and the icing on the cake, pointed eleven ears that stuck out about 3 inches. She looked to be in her late teens, but if she really was an elf, then that was by no means any kind of indicator to her age. 

The last person in the group was the only male to be found here outside of himself. A young man that looked in his early twenties, he had the face of a handsome youth just getting to know the world, with plain green eyes and short dirty blonde hair, the young man carried a sword and shield in his hands. He wore leather lamellar armor, and hidden under that was some kind of long sleeve shirt. 

Outside of the darkness, this counted as the second most interesting thing he had seen today. A few more moments of stunned silence later and Andrew found himself having to break the quiet. Lifting his hand as if in greeting and giving the group a smile, Andrew greeted them as warmly as he could. 

"Hi there!"

The group was unsure about the current situation, especially when some random guy just gives you a smile and a wave in such a place as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do. The first to recover their wits was the Mage woman, and the look she was giving Andrew could have frozen water. 

“Who in the name of Netheys are you supposed to be? Better yet, how in the name of Eden did you get down here? The last we had heard, no one has come down into the shadow labyrinth in over 100 years!”

Andrew gave the Mage a curious stare in counter to her ice filled one. 

“Is that what this place is called? The shadow labyrinth? I will admit it's aptly named, but that also sounds really cliché…but in answer to your two questions, my name is Andrew. As for how I got down here… well your guess is as good as mine. One minute I was walking along minding my own business, then BAM! I'm standing in the middle of a dark hallway not knowing how the hell I got there or even what happened. So yeah… I don't really know and haven't been aware of what's been going on for a little over an hour now.”

Andrew could see that 2 of the three didn't find his explanation satisfactory, those two being the Mage and elf, but the male seemed to be thinking about something and wasn't giving Andrew an outright hostile look, though he didn't seem to be believing everything coming out of Andrews mouth very much. The next one to do something was the elf, and she quickly made it known that she didn't think Andrew was in anyway telling the truth. She whipped an elegant gray bow from her back and nocked an arrow faster than Andrew could draw a breath. The next thing he knew, he was staring down the shaft of a sharply tipped arrow into the unflinching eyes of a hostile elf. 

“You speak naught but lies. I can sense it in you, you’re filled with the darkness of corruption and evil. The very same evil that permeates this place radiates off of you in waves. What are you really creature of darkness? Speak openly and I might not fill your eye socket with my arrow.”

Andrew looked down the shaft of the arrow again, finding himself composed despite the threat to his life.

“Touchy, aren't you? I am speaking honestly by the way, but I can probably explain why you feel what you do. I'm pretty sure that I came into contact with something, maybe the thing you guys were looking for judging by your conversation, and it might have affected me in some way. Also, I'm pretty sure it's killing me.” 

At that, Andrew noted the man’s eyes shot up in surprise while the Mage narrowed hers in thought. The elf simply held her arm steady, though she seemed poised to shoot any second now. Letting out a deep sigh, Andrew could only muster up his strength to just barely open his arms wide.

“Well if you think I’m that evil, then go ahead and fucking shoot an unarmed half dead man already. Should be like shooting fish in a barrel for an archer like you huh?”

Andrew was internally happy to note that the elf seemed to hesitate on that remark, the bow just barely laxing in her grip. However, the young man of the group held his hand up as if to stop her.

“Sarya, wait.” 

The elf named Sarya turned her eyes to the young man of the group, but kept her bow trained on Andrew in the event of this momentary lapse in concentration looking like a prime spot for an attack.

“What Ser Jonathan?”

“Lower your bow. It’s clear the man can do us no harm, evil or no evil.”

The Mage spoke up next, her eyes scanning Andrew sharply.

“You don’t know that Ser Jonathan, not for sure. He could be hiding behind a mask of sickness and weakness to catch us unaware.”

Andrew finally let his arms drop to the floor with an exasperated sigh.

“Nope, pretty sure he’s right. I don’t think I could do all of jack shit to anybody right now. I feel myself getting weaker every minute here. Slowly draining away with each tick of the clock as the cold takes me from inside… It’s really not comfortable ya know.”

Ser Jonathan looked to Andrew worriedly before he looked back at the mage.

“Morgana, could you do something to help him?”

The mage called Morgana looked to her party member with an annoyed look before she looked back at Andrew with an equal stare. However, she did as she was asked and walked over to kneel next to Andrew and hovered her hand over his face.

“Andrew… was it? I’ll give you fair warning, attempt anything and I’ll kill you quickly. And even if you get to me before I can stop you, Sarya will fill you with arrows before you can even stand.”

Andrew simply gave her the friendliest smile he could manage.

“But of course, no reason for you to trust me at all. Don’t worry though, I won’t try anything.”

With a neutral look as her reply, Andrew watched on for the next few minutes as Morgana did her thing… whatever that thing happened to be. He was sure her hand was glowing, so that was some kind of indicator that magic was being used, but since he wasn’t familiar with anything mystical, he couldn’t even begin to hazard a guess of what exactly. For the next minute or so, nothing was said from anyone, the eerie silence filling everything around them until eventually Morgana pulled her hand back and stood up. Jonathan was the first to say something.

“Well? Can we help him?”

Andrew noted that her look was still neutral, but her words made his already cold stomach freeze over.

“I am sorry Ser Jonathan. The… thing that has a hold of him is too tightly wrapped around his soul. I fear to help him would just as soon as kill him.”

“Are you sure? Nothing can be done? Not even a little?”

Morgana simply shook her head.

“Nothing…”

Andrew looked to the mage, then to the youth, even the elf received a look before he simply leaned back into the cold stone of the wall and let out a sharp laugh.

“Ha! HA HA! So this is how my life ends huh? Cold and desolate in the middle of fuck if I know where without ever having finished any of my life goals! Fan-fucking-tastic! HA HA HA! Clearly some god must be laughing at me right now for this to happen!”

Jonathan simply gave him a pained look before he shook his head.

“I’m… I’m so-”

“Oh don’t you fucking start. Actually, if you don’t mind, how bout you all fuck off for me so I can die with my thoughts at least. Last thing I need is something around here to make my life miserable vie pity stares.”

Sarya had lowered her bow, but she bristled at the venomous words coming from Andrew mouth.

“Hey! He was trying to show concern! You don’t have to-”

Jonathan raised his hand to quiet her, she did so, but somewhat tersely. 

“I apologize Sir Andrew. I know this is not the way you expected yourself to die, but if what you say is true, then you have at least rid the land of a great evil. I would hope that if you do contain profane evil in you, that it will die with you. I swear I will not forget you.”

Andrew only rolled his eyes at him, but he understood what the guy meant.

“Yeah yeah, big fucking whoop for me then… now go away please… I want to die thinking of my home…”

Ser Jonathan nodded his head in understanding and gave Andrew a bow out of some respect and regret before he turned the way he came and motioned for the other two to follow. Andrew watched them go, the Elf giving him some common decency by clapping her hands together and whispering a small prayer under her breath. However, Morgana did something odd as they went up the steps. Though she was the last to leave, she turned around one last time and stared at Andrew for a period of time. Andrew could swear he could see a hint of something on her face, like she was contemplating something. However, she left just like the other two before her up the steps. 

Andrew listened for a few minutes, the sounds of footsteps echoing before even those where but a distant memory. Lolling his head to the left and staring at the steps, Andrew simply closed his eyes and tried to let the darkness in his body take him faster. For a long time, he sat like this, just waiting for his death to come. Seconds, Minutes, Hours, He had no idea how long he sat there like that, but the growing cold in his body was the only thing to indicate the passage of time to him. That is until he thought he heard something coming from the stairway.

‘Oh great, did they come back to see if I was dead yet?’

Finding the strength to open his eyes a crack, Andrew looked to see if the group had come back to gawk at his corpse. However, unlike what he was, there was no one there. Curious, Andrew lifted his head from off the wall and tried to lean forward to see if he could peek around the corner a tad. Oddly enough, there was nothing he could see, but he still heard something coming from that general direction. It sounded a bit like tapping, like something hard against the stone. A curious nose to be sure.

‘Well… if I’m going to die, better it be on my feet doing something rather than on my ass waiting for it to happen.’ 

Taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to muster what strength he had left, Andrew found himself getting up on unsteady feet. With some tremendous effort, he managed to right himself, but he felt a little too weak to try to stand on his own. Andrew stumbled his way forward with his hand on the wall to keep him up, though it was unsteady at best. Managing to get himself to the stairway, Andrew tried to pay attention from which one it was coming from and was curious to note that it came from the stairway going down.

‘Well… that’ll make it easy at least…’

Setting himself for this path, Andrew set out with measured steps. For the next little while, all Andrew found himself doing was descending the stairs with the unusual tapping sound echoing out every once in a while. Eventually he found the bottom of those steps, and surprisingly, what he found was a short hallway that lead to an open room. Sucking in his breath, Andrew kept on in an attempt to keep his momentum going. Making his way to the room, Andrew looked at it to make sure there wasn’t some odd darkness to be found on the other side this time. He was happy to note that there wasn’t, though he wasn’t sure what good it would do him since he was going to die anyway. However, what was on the other side of the entryway was a room the size of a living room. Not all that big, but it was what was written on the floor that surprised him. From where he was at, it looked like a massive amount of etched lines and drawings, but the closer he got, the more he saw that it was in fact a circle that filled the whole of the floor. A massive circle layered in so many diagrams, symbols and markings that it was almost impossible to make out the stone floor underneath. 

Sadly, despite his curiosity, Andrew could feel himself losing what little strength he had left and before he knew it, felt himself fall to his knees before he landed facedown painfully on the floor. It hurt, but he knew his time was almost up. Managing to work his head to look up, Andrew saw something in the room he didn’t seem to notice the first time. Despite the amount of graffiti on the floor, sitting dead center in the middle of it was a person. A young girl who looked no older than 12 was looking directly at him, wide eyed and as surprised to see him down here as he was to see her down in this dark place. However, he was even more surprised when on further inspection he saw that the girl in front of him had more to her appearance then that of a young girl. 

Her hair was long, so very long that it seemed to lay in a heap around her. Almost like a vicious pool of bright red and orange hair, like fire on her scalp cascading to the floor in vivid colors. Her wide eyes where a deep orange color, like fire if he was to put it to likeness. Andrew took special note of her face and saw that she was quite cute, but something on her head made him look away from that and at the obsidian black twin helix horns that spouted from atop her skull, like a Markhor goat if he was to go that far. Actually, a lot of things about her reminded him of a goat, like her goat like ears on the side of her head where humans ones should have been found, the fact that her crossed legs where only human to about her mid-thigh until it gave away to a long thick goat leg that ended in a sharp pointed hoof. If he angled his head, he could swear he saw a cutely short tail above her small ass. The only thing that didn’t seem to mix with her image was her clawed paws. They looked like they belonged more on a fingered beast then on a girl as cute as she was. Her skin looked like burned porcelain turned white ash. It was an odd comparison, but it was the best he could come up with. It took him a moment, but Andrew saw that the girls skin was completely exposed to him, she was as naked as the day she was born, and thus her cutely pink nipples and just barely budding breasts where exposed for him to see. He could also hazard a guess that if she didn’t have her legs crossed, he would more than likely see the very thing that made her a woman as well. 

For a moment, neither one was sure of what to say at that moment, but to Andrews surprise, the girl spoke up first.

“Huh… well… would you look that that. I had given you up for dead.”

Unsure of what she even meant by that, Andrew could only stare on dumbly at the girl. However, his expression no doubt caught her attention and she stood up, a little too quickly to be calm if Andrew saw it correctly. She then hurried over, but didn’t seem to go beyond the edge of the circle. She then bent at the knees to get a better looks at him looking up at her. As his eyes gazed up across her body, he saw that he was correct in his guess that the girl was entirely nude. He was sure his face would be quite red right now if he didn’t feel all his blood slowing down in his body.

“What… what do you mean… by that…”

He was starting to find it hard to talk, his body was starting to shut down, to try to spend every resource it could find to keep him going for a little bit longer. He wasn’t sure if he should be asking such stupid questions, but dammit if he wasn’t going to find something to do in his final moments.

“I know you probably have a huge amount of questions, about where you are, how you got here, what’s happening right now, but you don’t have long. Not long at all. I know this might sound strange, but I don’t want you to die right here in front of me okay? but that’s your call to make. If you want to live, I need you to reach in this circle for me, and I can save your life if you do that. But I need you to hurry! I can only do so much as long as your alive!”

Unsure of what was even happening, Andrew could only blankly look at her, but something in her eyes made him believe her. A desperate kind of hope and fear in those sunset eyes of hers. Taking a deep breath, Andrew nodded to her.

“Al…right… I…I want… I want you… to… save… m…e.”

Andrew felt the edge of his conscious starting to fade, but he tried to push it aside, and pushed his hand forward as hard as he could to reach into that circle, his body hardly willing to follow his thoughts much longer. For a moment, he was sure his body was going to stop before he reached it, but the last thing he saw before he blacked out was his hand crossing the threshold of the circle. 

Xx sometime later… xX

Andrew slowly opened his eyes, the feeling that he was in a different position then what he remembered causing him to start looking around his current area. He wasn’t surprised to see that he was still laying on the ground, though from the looks of it he had been dragged into the room with the red-haired demon girl he had just met, pentagrams and all. Looking around, he did in fact find said girl, though it was more he felt her first before he actually laid eyes on her. Looking down at his side, Andrew saw that the girl was embracing him tightly and looking up at him. He was a little curious as to why she was doing this, but the look of worry melting away to relief on her face told him that she may have been doing something for him.

“Holy crap… you had me worried there for a minute. I was afraid I was too late to do anything when you passed out. Thankfully you got your hand in my living space, so I was able to get you in here where I could work my magic… so to speak.”

Andrew blinked a few times before he opted to sit himself up, the young girl in his arms rolling over to the side to let him do just that unobstructed. Andrew took a moment to pat himself down and wasn’t surprised to see that everything was still in working order, in fact, he felt better than he had over the last few hours. However, he was quick to note that he still felt somewhat cold inside, though it didn’t seem to be getting worse than that. Andrew turned his attention back to the girl, who was currently sitting cross-legged in front of him, and nodded to her in thanks.

“I have no idea what you did, but you saved my damn life. I owe you big time.”

The girl nodded her head once before she pointed at him with one of her claws.

“Your welcome, but I wouldn’t be thanking me as of yet. All I did was fix the symptoms of your problem, the main issue is still there in your spirit.”

Andrew reflexively put his hand over where his heart was as if to feel for what it was that caused his current issue.

“So… I’m not out of danger yet… at least it’s better than being dead at any rate… but I guess the next question comes down to, how much longer do I have, and is there any way to fix it? Actually, I kinda would like to know what’s happening to be honest.”

The demon girl nodded her head in understanding before she placed both her paws on her knees and began to rock back and forth on her rear.

“I’ll answer what I can, but let me go ahead and tell you what’s happening to you right now. As you no doubt can figure out for yourself, you’re dying. Why that is though is a whole other story. As far as I can tell, you touched the one thing in this maze that was never meant to come into contact with humans ever again. Weather based on luck or not, it didn’t kill you the moment you touched it, so I guess that’s good for you on your part.”

“Okay… but what was it?”

The girl looked at him for a moment, as if to analyze something from him that he didn’t know she needed to figure out. However, she let out a small sigh before she nodded to herself.

“What you currently happen to have trapped in your body is the soul of a very powerful and highly dangerous EX-demon lord. Thankfully for you, it’s been down here for so long that it’s lost any and all traces of its previous personality, making it just pure raw energy. Had it had some trace of the previous owner’s identity, you would have gone mad and then died.”

“Well, I guess that’s some small relief…”

“Right?”

“I was being sarcastic… and it’s still killing me by the way.”

“Yeah yeah… as I was saying, because it’s nothing but pure demonic energy at this point, when it came into contact with you, it latched onto you hoping to find someplace to go. Oddly enough for you, you had no magical circuits at all in your body whatsoever. So the only place it could really go was into your soul. Being a human, having demonic energy violently thrust into you would eventually kill you since you can’t possibly convert yourself into a demon quickly enough for the sheer amount in your body to be absorbed. Even a straight up magic user would have problems staying alive with the amount you have trying to take the place of your soul.”

“Huh… so basically… this energy is trying to stuff itself into the place my soul would normally go, but since my soul is already there, it’s killing me outwardly by trying to push it out?”

“Pretty much…”

Andrew looked down at his chest for a moment, half expecting to see his soul peeking out from somewhere, but shook his head and looked back at the girl in front of him.

“Okay… so I know whats happening to me… how do we go about fixing it?”

The demon girl breathed in deeply for a moment before she crossed her arms across her chest and exhaled loudly.

“Well… you see… that’s a mite bit tricky… and even then, I actually can’t do very much for you as I am currently.”

Andrew wasn’t sure what she was talking about and simply cocked his eyebrow in some confusion. Noticing his look, the demon pointed to the floor and walls of the room.

“Just like that soul, I too am a prisoner of this maze. I can’t access much of my power while I happen to be stuck in this room. As of right now, I managed to suppress a great deal of that energy in your body, but it won’t last long, and it’ll come back quicker each time I push it back down. If I wasn’t sealed in this room, then I could do a lot more for you, even create magical conduits for your body to properly house that power, but I can’t do that as weak as I am.”

“I sense a ‘but wait!’ in your next sentence.”

The Demon girl smiled widely as she gave him a thumbs/paws up.

“Astute. Yes, there is a work around for me to access my full power, and that’s that you need to break me out of here.”

Andrew looked to the demon, then to the room they were currently in before he looked back to her with a neutral look on his face.

“Uh-hu… in case you forgot, I don’t have any kind of magical ability, so I have no idea how a guy with no talent in magic would be able to break you out of a binding set by a far more experienced mage.”

The girl simply kept on grinning at his remark and got to her feet. She then began to pace around the room, tapping out certain points in the wall knowingly and simply grinning on before she turned back to look at him.

“True, as a mage, you have nothing to contribute to my escape… but as a person… you’re just who I need to get out. You see, I’ve been stuck down here for a very very very long time now. I’ve had time to study and work out processes to break the bindings on me, and with you showing up, I can implement the most surefire way available to me.”

Andrew kept his eyes on her as she paced around him before he voiced his inner question.

“How do I picture into your escape?”

The demon clapped her paws together, making a soft sounding pap noise as she smiled cutely at him.

“Easy, I convert the contract keeping me bound to this place, into a servant contract with you.”

For a moment, Andrew wasn’t sure exactly what he heard right then. So he opted to ask again.

“I’m sorry what?”

“Form a contract with me, and I’ll become your servant, ergo freeing me from this place and allowing me to work my full power to help you save your life.” 

“Yeah… form a contract… with a demon.”

“Ah… more like a Dark Beast, but yeah.”

Andrew blinked a few times at that before he let out a sigh and fell to his back and looked dead on at the ceiling with a sorta defeated look on his face.

“I take it if I refuse I’ll die?”

“Uhhhhh… well… yeah, pretty much. I can’t help you if I can’t access my full power… whats the problem with it? It’s not a bad deal, you get to keep your life and you get a servant like myself, how is this a bad thing?”

Andrew looked over at her and shook his head.

“It’s a bad thing because I know you’re not telling me everything about it. Back where I come from, such a deal is considered suspicious, I get a lot of good things out of it while you don’t get much I can see. I can’t bring myself to touch that kind of deal with a 39 and a half foot pole. I mean, whats the point of surviving if my soul gets eaten by you right afterward?”

For a moment, the girl looked somewhat hurt by the statement, though more of a hurt from the pride then from feelings.

“You’re a lot more suspicious then I took you for… but your just gonna have to trust me on this. I know we just met and all, and your right about how it seems like a deal that’s just too good to be any good, but it all comes down to trust in the end. I swear I’m just trying to help, and that by doing that I’ll be able to get out of here.”

Andrew looked her dead in her flaming eyes as she said that, and truth be told, he couldn’t find the eyes of a liar in them at all. That or she was really good at hiding it. Letting out a small sigh, Andrew simply flopped back on the ground.

“Dead if I don’t, maybe dead if I do… either way something won’t end well for me… Alright, let’s go ahead and get this done. What do I need to do?” 

The girl grinned widely as she quickly clopped over to Andrew and knelt next to him and put her paw on top of his hand.

“It’s simple. All you need to do is repeat after me and then give me a name.”

Andrew cocked his eyebrow up at that.

“A Name?”

“As long as I’m bound to a place, a name is meaningless to me. However, the moment I bind myself to a person, a name is needed for the ritual. It helps cement the pact between us. You’ll need to come up with one quick though, the power that’s keeping you going is starting to fade. Repeat after me… By the agreement placed between us and under the eyes of the pactmasters of old, we two do swear to hold to the ancient agreements placed upon this pact as stated by the dawning of the age of demons. That I will fulfill the obligations of this pact bequeath the pact master with his fondest desire, and that the master would give the demon a name to call her own and give her meaning under the carnage of old. Under these conditions we swear this pact upon the speaking of the name chosen. After that, give me my name, and it will be done.”

Andrew, unsure of what to expect from all this, began to speak out the words she told, something in them resounding deeply in his bones, as if they spoke of something older then mankind.

“By the agreement placed between us and under the eyes of the pactmaster of old-” 

Andrew felt something in his body rumble, and with it, he could feel something about himself start to change.

“-we two do swear to hold to the ancient agreements placed upon this pact as stated by the dawning of the age of demons-”

Andrew felt something like an invisible chain wrap around something in him, and he could feel the barest hint of where it went, though he had a guess of who it happened to be connected with.

“That I will fulfill the obligations of this pact bequeath the pact master with his fondest desire, and that the master would give the demon a name to call her own and give her meaning under the carnage of old.”

Power began to bubble up inside of him, like a searing white flame was burning the binding attached to his soul, it was filling him, flooding him, almost overflowing out of him so much that he was finding it hard keep his voice going.

“Under these conditions-”

Andrew felt as if he was about to burst, the cold having long since been pushed back and replaced with the fire running through him.

“We swear this pact-!”

He needed to let it out, this was going to kill him, his body felt as if he was on fire, his soul being seared with both Cold and fire. For a brief moment, Andrew looked to the demon girl, dead in her eyes, and he could swear he saw her eyes where literal fire, as if she too was feeling what he felt and could only manifest it in her visage. For some odd reason, he felt as if he was also showing the same vision to her. 

“-upon the speaking of the name chosen!!! I Name you Labareda! The burning one who will scorch away the cold of my body and sear the flesh of those who would do me harm! The flame of souls and the one who I call my own! You are Labareda!”

Andrew had no idea where those last few words came from, but the moment that name was spoken, he could feel the power stop raging within him and began to settle in his body like a warm heat from a hearth. He didn’t even realize he had been panting until he took notice of how hard he was breathing. Looking down, he saw that his body was soaked in sweat, and much to his surprise, was even steaming. A laugh next to him made him look over to see that the demon girl-Labareda as she was now to be called- seemed to also be sweating and steaming like him.

“ Ha! That got a little dicey there! Was afraid you were going to catch fire before you finished up!”

“Catch fire!?! There was a chance this ritual would have killed me?!”

“Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh… a little bit, but it was by far the safest method in comparison to anything else I thought of.”

Andrew looked at her skeptically, but took note of something on her body he didn’t see before. Full body tribal tattoos running up the length of her body everywhere he looked, etched with arcane markings and motifs of fire, granted he could still see her ashen skin underneath the charcoal black, but it was a stark contrast to say the least. Noticing his gaze, Labareda looked down and smiled at herself.

“Pretty nifty right? These are signs that I belong to you now.”

Andrew gazed for a bit longer before he spoke under his breath.

“Pretty cool… but I liked it better when your skin was unmarked…”

Labareda cocked her eyebrow up in some shock, but a large grin formed on her face as she thinned her eyes in a sly sort of way.

“Oh really now… I’ll see what I can do about it later… but for now, go ahead and rest Master Andrew. I’ll take care of you while you sleep. Your weariness and your magic circuits as well…”

Feeling the burden of the events finally catching up with him, Andrew felt his eyes grow heavy with sleep as he lay his head back down on the stone floor. However, before he let his mind slip to sleep, he had to ask one more question that nagged at him.

“How did you know my name…”

The girl reached over and gently stroked his face to sooth him, a tender look in her burning eyes as she did.

“You and I are bound now until the end of our days… Your name is no more a secret to me then my own… sleep well Master… and may you dream pleasant things as you slumber…” 

With those words, Andrew found himself drifting off, his mind finally taking no more for the day.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Andrew felt terror unlike anything he had ever felt before in his life. It was like ice gripped the whole of his body and threatened to freeze everything about him down to his soul. He didn’t know why he was currently feeling as such, but he had no doubt that such a fear could not come from anything of a mortal making. He could not feel his body, yet he still felt the cold resonate off of him. He could not see, but he knew that even if he felt his eyes, he would see only darkness. He didn’t hear, but he knew he would hear nothing if he did. It was as if he was dreaming, only that dream was a nightmare unlike anything he had ever had in his life. It was then he realized the reason for his terror, it was then that he began to notice. In his mind’s eye, he could see it, a shadow creeped all around him, like the blackest oil oozed from nothing, but he knew it was sentient, he knew it was thinking. It was then as he focused on the darkness in fear that something happened. Something in the darkness awoke, and then he knew it was looking back. And that thought scared him even more then he was willing to admit. For a few moments, he felt nothing but the stare, as if it waited for something.

Waiting…

waiting…

waiting…

And then it lunged at him without warning.

With a start, Andrew felt his eyes snap open and his body jerk in response to what he assumed was something coming for him. However, he didn’t get much further than a few inches before he suddenly realized that there wasn’t anything coming for him in the small room he was laying in. Well nothing else save himself and his new demon familiar Labareda who was sitting right next to him with a curious look on her face.

“Oh? Awake already? I would have expected you to rest another few hours at least. Though I was about to wake you up with the way you started to toss and turn.”

Andrew blinked a few times as if to get his mind in working order and waited a moment for his heart to calm itself down, still racing from the feeling of being attacked. Andrew took a few deep breaths to bring the last of his adrenaline down before he let out one last long breath and looked at Labareda.

“I’m fine… thanks though…”

Sighing to himself, Andrew took note of something new about her. Unlike the last time he saw her, her skin was clean and smooth, taking on that pale ash color of hers. The Tattoos he had seen earlier were gone. The demon girl saw his puzzled gaze and looked down at herself with a smile.

“Ah, noticed that did you? You mentioned earlier that you liked my skin unmarked as such, so I took the liberty of hiding them for you. I hope it appeals to your taste _master_.”

Andrew blinked a few times as his mind processed a few things about that sentence. Master. She just called him that. Looking down at himself, Andrew felt his body over a few times and tried to focus on his inner self.

He didn’t feel cold anymore. Instead, he actually felt pretty warm on the inside. Patting himself down to doublecheck himself, Andrew stopped when he noticed markings on the back of his hands. Curious, he rolled up his sleeves and noted that he had tattoos like Labareda, though they only went up to his mid-arm.

“It’s proof of our contract. As you have marked me, I have also marked you. Kinda like a signature for demons. I can hide those for you if you want though.”

Andrew only half heard her, tracking the markings up his arm as she looked at him curiously. Eventually, he stopped looking at himself and brought his attention to the demon… _his_ demon. It was something he hadn’t been thinking about until now, but this situation… this girl in front of him, told him that as hard as he might try, this was his reality right now. Letting out a small sigh, Andrew looked back down at his arms before he shook his head.

“No, I’m good for right now, they don’t seem to be hurting anything… plus, I always wanted a pretty sick tattoo. And as far as this one is concerned, it’s pretty cool.”

Labareda cocked her head to the side in amusement before she stood up on her hooves and stretched her arms out in a wide arc before she let them fall to her side.

“I don’t know if I understand, but I am happy that they please you… however Master, I would ask you take it slow for a little while, I just got done with… crafting shall we say? Yes, Crafting you some magical circuits throughout your whole body.”

Andrew looked down at himself and patted his body down once again, though he was sure he wouldn’t find anything with such a mundane method.

“Really? Minus the lack of cold, I don’t feel much different.”

“It’s normally like that at first. The individual doesn’t notice a change in the beginning, but give it time and you’ll start to feel things you never felt before, see things you never knew existed. That sort of thing, and when it does, I’ll be there to help you along the way.”

Andrew gave the demon a curious look before he simply smiled at her.

“Well, that’s reassuring if nothing else.”

Labareda could only smile at him.

“I’m a hard worker if nothing else.”

For a moment, it was nothing but silence between the both of them, that is until Andrew looked around the room they were in and let out a low hum.

“Huuuuuuuuuuuum… well… I guess since I’m not dying anymore and your pretty much bound to me… I guess… the most logical conclusion would be to either sit and talk about things or to get up and get the hell out of here.”

“I personally am a fan of the second statement. I’ve been down here for too long to be sitting in here anymore. You think you are well enough to walk Master?”

“Dunno… let’s find out.”

Doing just that, Andrew got to his knees as he tested himself. He couldn’t say that he was feeling absolutely perfect seeing as less than an hour ago he had been dying, but he was feeling pretty good as he got to his feet. Looking around for a moment, Andrew stood there for a moment before he nodded his head at Labareda.

“I think I’m good.”

“Excellent master! Then let us be on our way!”

“Where and how though? If I recall correctly, then this place is a labyrinth. I didn’t happen to enter the normal way so you know.”

Labareda only smiled as she began walking, forcing Andrew to follow after her curiously.

“You seem to forget master that I have been down here a very long time, nearly…”

Taking a moment to count it out on her furry digits, the demoness finally came to a number.

“Well over twelve hundred years by my estimate. Do you honestly think that all I’ve done while down here is twiddle my thumbs?”

Andrew was too amazed by the sheer number she just presented to answer her immediately. However, Labareda had not been looking for an answer and continued.

“No no my dear master. In all that time, I have planned for my eventual escape. so do not fret over minor details such as those. Just leave it all to your familiar, I’ll have us out of here in a month or so.”

“A month?!”

Labareda turned her head to look behind her, giving Andrew a puzzled stare as she did.

“Yes, a month. This maze is not small by any stretch of the word. I have spent a long time scrying each and every turn and dead end that can be found in this massive space and I can say with confidence that that is much faster than any other person who has come in here. As a matter of fact, other than the Maou who created this place, I’m more than one hundred percent certain that I’m the only one who knows the whole layout of this maze.”

Andrew was having a hard time trying to come up with words right now, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel impressed with his familiar. That was beside the point though.

“If it’s gonna take a whole month to get out of here, what do we do about food? Water? Things people need in order to live?”

He couldn’t help but notice that they were already back at the top of the steps where his stuff still sat, but his attention was on Labareda at the moment as she bent down to pick up his stuff and began looking at it curiously.

“All issues that can easily be overcome. The prospect of water isn’t an issue since I can make it from magic. Food is the bigger issue, but we can hunt creatures down here in the labyrinth. However, those are your concerns since, as a demon beast, I don’t need to eat due to our contract… and since I’ve answered your questions master, I would beg you answer one of mine own. What exactly is this stuff and why does it smell like you?”

Not exactly sure how to respond so her earlier answer, Andrew instead opted to answer her question in hopes that it might help him collect his thoughts on the situation.

“Well, it smells like me because it’s mine. As for what it is… the cylindrical item is something called a thermos. It holds liquids and keeps them either cold or hot for a prolonged period of time. The bags are snacks, or food I guess you would call it, but nothing you would be familiar with. The large jug is filled with water, nothing important there… and lastly, the blanket is just that, a blanket. Though like the food, it is also made from a material that you wouldn’t be familiar with.”

“I see… fascinating…”

Curious, Labareda picked up one of the bags of chips and began to turn it over in her furry paws. For a moment, Andrew was curious about what she was doing, but he was quick to hazard a guess.

“If you hand it to me, I’ll open it for you.”

Labareda looked up at him and gave him a sly smile.

“Only been with each other for less than a day and you're already starting to read me.”

“More like it’s easy to see when you're curious.”

Handing the bag over with a sheepish smile, Andrew took it from her and in less than a second had it open. He quickly handed it back before he sat down and opened the gallon of water and poured a quarter of it into the thermos. Labareda only watched him for a moment longer before she looked back down at the bag and pulled out chip. For a moment, Andrew could only watch his familiar as she taste-tested the chip. Labareda took one bite out of the thing and her eyes lit up in delight.

“Mmmmmmmh! Delicious!”

“Yeah, but certainly not good for you… though I don’t know if all the fatty acids would affect you in the same way… anyway, about what you were saying earlier.”

Looking over at him curiously with a mouth stuffed to the brim with chips, Labareda tilted her head to the side cutely.

“Ahout ‘hat?”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Labareda chewed vigorously for a moment before she swallowed everything in her mouth in a single gulp. A feat Andrew had to admit was impressive considering the size would have choked anybody.

“Sorry master, about what?”

“About getting out of here in a month. Does it really take that long?”

“Long? Master, that’s the fastest anybody can come to completing this place. And even then, it’s only possible because I happen to know every trick, secret, and otherwise unknown element to the labyrinth. Most individuals end up dead when they enter here carelessly.”

“Most doesn’t mean all mind you. What happens to the rest?”

Labareda thought about that for a moment before she answered.

“They usually tend to turn around and leave if they can. Otherwise… a few of them tend to make this place their home.”

Andrew couldn’t fathom why anybody would want to live in a labyrinth, but he felt that trying to apply his usual common sense here would only give him a headache. Sighing to himself, Andrew leaned back into the wall before he took another look around.

“So where is this place anyway? Not the labyrinth, but the name of the land I’ve managed to find myself in?”

“A good question. I fear that humans may have changed it over the years, so my information may no doubt be out of date, but from what I remember, the land we happen to be in is the land of Rigel for to the north. But that was when people would come to the labyrinth more often, so again it is probably inaccurate. Sadly, outside of the name, I know nothing else. Before you ask, it is because I was summoned and sealed in the labyrinth. These walls are all I really know… that and second-hand information.”

“I see… that must have been a really boring twelve hundred years for you.”

Labereda didn’t bother answering that question, but the look on her face told him that he was right in that regard. The both of them sat in silence for a moment longer before Andrew got to his feet.

“Well, if it really is going to take a month to get out of here, then I guess we should go ahead and get started.”

Labareda followed her masters example and stood up while still munching.

“Agreed. Let us be on our way.”

With that small exchange between them over, the demon started walking with Andrew tailing behind her. For the next few hours or so, Andrew said nothing as Labareda would turn this way and that at intersections, her mind seemingly in the middle of calculating where the both of them where going. Sadly, he himself was not quite so calm or collected in his thoughts, the fear of running into something or dying in a trap keeping him pretty on edge the whole time. It wasn’t until about three hours in when something happened. That something being Andrews stomach growling. He would have eaten something from his bag of snacks, but Labareda had consumed everything he had brought with him. Despite her young body, she could really put it away. The rumbling brought his familiars attention back to him, a curious look in her sunset eyes.

“Everything alright master?”

Feeling a little embarrassed about letting his stomach make so much noise, Andrew laughed sheepishly to himself.

“Sorry, just getting hungry is all. The last time I ate was a few hours ago if not more.”

“I see… then it might be time to go ahead and take a short break.”

Not needing to be told twice, Andrew found a spot that looked partially comfortable and sat down there. Labareda, however, did not sit down and began to walk off.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

The demon turned around, some confusion on her face.

“I’m going to procure some food. You need to fill your belly and eating something will help me to recover my mana faster. Until I return, you can stay here and rest.”

Thinking about that for a moment, Andrew looked back at Labareda with curiosity in his eyes.

“Are you going to be okay? And is there anything close by to hunt around here?”

“Just leave all of that to me master.”

Was all she said before she walked away with a smile on her face. Andrew wasn't going to say anything, though he was somewhat curious about what it was she was going to do. A moment later though and Andrew realized that Labareda could be a while and decided that as long as he was waiting, he might as well do as his familiar suggested and get some rest. Laying down on the stone floor, Andrew tried to make himself as comfortable as possible. Thankfully he was still feeling rather tired and his eyelids quickly became heavy before he eventually drifted off. It felt as if he had just drifted off for a second, but the next time Andrew opened his eyes, Labareda was there looking at him with a content look on her face. However, upon seeing that he had awoken, the demoness let a mock pour cross her face.

“What a pity, I felt as if I could look at your sleeping face for a good deal longer.”

Not paying what she said much mind, Andrew worked himself up to a sitting position, stifling a yawn as he did.

“Yeah, pity that… how long was I out for?”

Losing the pout, Labareda thought about it for a moment before she seemed to come to a conclusion

“I believe I felt you go to sleep right after I left, and since it took me some time to find something to eat, I would say about two hours. That’s only a rough estimate though.”

“Two hours of rest is better then no rest… by the way, you ‘felt’ me to to sleep?”

Labareda looked confused for a moment before she remembered that her contractor knew nothing of owning a familiar.

“Ah, I forget your not well versed in the ways of magic. Allow me to explain. As we are bound by a pact, we share between us an empathetic link. You don’t really know how to take advantage of this yet, so you probably will be a little confused when it starts to happen. Thankfully I can keep track of your mental state from across the world if the need should arise, so that is why I was alright with leaving you here for a short time to get food.”

Andrew nodded his head in understanding. Though he pretty much just chalked it up to magic stuff he wouldn’t be able to understand.

“Alright then… so going back to what you just said, how did food gathering go?”

Labareda didn’t answer with words, instead opting to point her thumb over her shoulder. Curious, Andrew looked behind her where his eyes widened in shock at what he saw just behind the demon girl. The only thing he could attribute it to was some kind of giant demon caterpillar… or the charred remains of one to be precise. Labareda looked rather happy with herself at seeing Andrews reaction.

“What in the world is _that_ supposed to be?”

“That my dear master, is what is known as a Shadow Silk Worm. It a pretty docile demon beast, though that doesn’t mean it isn’t deadly in its own right.”

“Alright… interesting name… is this what you caught to eat?”

Labareda nodded proudly as she poked the burnt hide of the worm.

“Of course. A shadow silk worm is a wonderful source of protein for any creature. I even managed to keep the silk organ intact.”

The confused look on Andrews face caused Labareda to smile sheepishly.

“Ah right. A Shadow Silk Worms silk is actually very valuable. It can be as strong as any metal while retaining the comfort and flexibility of normal clothing. It’s actually very hard to remove the organ without damaging it.”

Andrew nodded his head at her, not sure how hard that actually was, but praising her effort nonetheless.

“I see… one thing though. Since you removed the organ… doesn’t that mean it won’t work anymore?”

“Not quite Master. True, without it being connected to the worm, it won’t work as it is… but with the right kind of apparatus and a good amount of magical energy, I can replicate the worm's inner magic circuits to imitate the silk creation process. Before I was sealed up down here, I used to know a bit about things like this. Anyway, that’s enough about all of that. Go ahead and eat master. I’ll eat what you don’t finish so as to recover magical energy.”

With a simple grunt of agreement, Andrew got to his feet and walked past his familiar next to the worm. He couldn’t help but admire it for a moment, but found himself feeling somewhat hesitant about eating a giant bug. However, he had been taught to adapt to most any situation and pushed his reservations to the back of his mind before he grabbed a piece of it and tore a chunk of burnt worm off the carcass. The sound of ripping and cracking carcass made him almost stop, but he pulled until he got a sizable chunk off. When he looked down at the thing in his hands, he saw that the ‘meat’ didn’t really have a color to it, nor did it seem to bleed. He had never eaten a bug before, but his hungry stomach was more than willing to try now. Hesitating for only a moment longer, Andrew quickly brought it to his mouth and savagely bit into it. For a few moments, all he did was chew. However, the disgusted look on his face pretty much said it all before he forced himself to swallow.

“Yeah… kinda figured it was gonna taste like shit.”

When he looked at Labareda, he saw that she looked a little annoyed… and maybe a little hurt at his statement.

“I apologize for the taste Master, but sadly there isn’t much I can do to alter that.”

Realizing that he probably sounded like an asshole right now, Andrew shook his head to dispel her words.

“No… I’m sorry… that was pretty dick-ish of me to say. Yeah it tastes bad, but like you said, there isn’t much we can do about that. I’ll not complain about it again. Thank you for getting it by the way.”

Andrew saw that his familiar’s face looked brighter at his words, but didn’t say anything else after that. For the next 30 or so minutes, Andrew forced himself to eat as much of the creature as he could stomach before he was full enough without retching the thing back out onto the floor. He hadn’t even managed to consume one eighth of the worm, a testament to the creatures size. Sitting himself back in his original spot, Andrew looked at Labareda and nodded his head at her.

“Alright, have at it then.”

She didn’t need to be told twice before she started to savagely rip into it like a beast. Andrew found it somewhat terrifying as she didn’t seem to care if she splattered her food everywhere, but he felt he couldn’t fault her eating habits right now due to how long she had probably gone without food. In about half the time it had taken him to eat his portion, he witnessed this little girl eat about half the worm in that time. Honestly, he was amazed, and felt that he should voice this thought.

“Good _god_ , how can you eat so much without regurgitating it all back up?”

Labareda, who had just been chomping down into the head of the insect, turned around with her mouth full of insect. It took her a moment to remember that she couldn’t talk with all the stuff in her mouth and swallowed. Andrew couldn’t help but cringe a little bit when she did. After Labareda cleared her mouth, she turned her attention back to her masters question.

“Easy, it doesn’t actually stay in my stomach.”

“Huh? Wait what?”

“I get the feeling I’m going to need to explain a lot of things in the future when it comes to the worlds common sense… Anyway, as a contracted demon beast, I don’t need to eat physical food. In actuality, I only eat only to taste things, or to take the things I eat and convert it into mana.”

Andrew thought about it for a moment before he suddenly had an idea of what she was talking about.

“Ah! So you just convert the things you eat into mana?”

Labareda nodded her head with a smile on her face before she tore a chunk out of the worm and bit into it.

“Aat’s h’ite”

“Chew with your mouth closed.”

Doing just that, Labareda swallowed down her food before she spoke again.

“Since I rely on mana to survive, I could just eat trees and rocks and get about the same value in terms of mana absorption. However, I like to think I’m a little more refined in terms of dining compared to other demons, so I actually try to eat human foods.”

Andrew watched her rip another chunk of worm off the carcass as she said that and stuffed the whole thing in her mouth.

“Refined isn’t the word I would use… So how much mana to you recover from eating things like that anyway?”

Andrew pointed to the corpse as he said that, but her dismal reaction made him curious.

“Not much sadly. Well… not much for me at any rate. Most demons could get by on a corpse like this for a long period of time. Me though? It only takes the edge off my very low mana.”

“Why is it so low.”

Labareda let out a small sigh before she turned her attention back to the worm and spoke again.

“After twelve hundred years of being imprisoned down here, I’ve been forced to use a great deal of my power to study and break the seal set on me. I’ve also had to use it to maintain myself for this vast amount of time. Add on to the fact that creating magical circuits for you drained what little I had left, and… well… I’m like an ocean sized flask with hardly a mouthful left in me.”

Andrew nodded his head in understanding, though he felt somewhat guilty about her current state if what she said was true. Scratching the back of his head, he thought of something he remembered seeing in fantasy novels and the like.

“As your master, don’t you draw it from me directly?”

Labareda stopped for a moment, Andrew unable to see the look on her face before she started to stuff herself again.

“Normally… yes. That would be how it works… but your magical powers are hardly even a day old, and I fear trying to take from you now would be like trying to swing a blade fresh out of the forge. Though…”

Andrew waited for her to say something, however, all she did was shake her head and mutter something under her breath before she replied.

“No, never mind. The long of it is, until you get used to the magical energies in your body, I fear trying to use any of it would only hurt you. Until then, I’ll keep to eating things to keep me going.”

Andrew watched as she did just as she promised and went right back to eating. He however was somewhat impressed with her sense of security for him. He wasn’t sure if it was due to the fact that she was bound to him, but he felt touched by the concern. Though he was curious as to why she had hesitated a moment ago. However, he wasn’t going to pry into the reasons why she did, it wasn’t as if they knew each other for very long after all. Deciding to let her eat in silence, Andrew found his attention drawn to his inner thoughts for the time being. It wasn’t until a few minutes later when Labareda finished eating that Andrew said anything. 

“Feeling better at least?”

His familiar thought about it for a moment before she shrugged her shoulders.

“I’ll manage.”

Nodding his head, Andrew got back on his feet before he looked this way and that, trying to figure out which way they would need to go. Labareda answered that question for him as she began to make her way down the hall with Andrew in tow, the start of the adventure down this labyrinth only just beginning. 

Xx 5 days later.xX

“I’m going to die down here.”

Labareda looked down at her master, her face some parts annoyed while other parts amused.

“You said that yesterday, but here you are, still breathing.”

Andrew looked up from the floor at his familiar, a long sigh going out from his lips.

“I mean in general. One month of this? We started… like… what? Four days ago?”

“Five to be precise.”

“Yeah, five, and it still feels like we haven’t managed to get anywhere. Are you sure we aren’t walking in circles or something?”

Now just irritated, Labareda lightly kicked her master in the side with a hoof.

“The fact that you still doubt me hurts my pride master. In answer to your question, no, we are not walking in circles. It just feels that way to you because the Shadow Labyrinth disorients anyone who came from outside of it. It’s one of the things that makes it so dangerous. You lose your sense of time, placement, even direction while down here. I’m sure I explained this all to you two days ago.”

Andrew sat up and leaned against the wall, his mood still not improving even with the explanation.

“Yeah, you explained it all to me before… but I’m just getting frustrated is all. We haven’t eaten anything even remotely decent for the past few days, I haven’t bathed myself or my clothes these past five days, and to top it off, the magic circuits you planted in me are starting to activate, and it’s giving me a massive headache. Frankly, I’m of the mind that I’ll die in the next few days before we manage to get out.”

Labareda let out yet another sigh from her lips.

“Master, I promise you that you will not die. I’ll see to that. I personally think that what your experiencing right now is a serious amount of boredom. You need to take your mind off of all this and just trust in my ability to get us out.”

Andrew didn’t say anything more, but mostly because he knew that deep down, he was only whining because she was right. He _was_ bored. However, he had found it difficult after the second day of walking to keep his mind off of the situation he was in. Thankfully his familiar had been more than willing to talk with him throughout that time, so he hadn’t been all that bored. But there had only been so much he could talk about with her. Her knowledge of this world was outdated, and even she wasn’t sure what might count as fact or fiction at this point. Sadly, she wasn’t willing to brooch the subject of magic, and every time he brought it up, she would simply tell him that he needed to wait a little longer for his body to acclimate before she tried to explain all that. Other than that, he would opt to tell her about his world and all the things she might find interesting. Thankfully, she had been very attentive in regards to that, but she would ask a lot of questions about how things worked, and he sadly did not have a lot of those answers. Looking around for a moment, Labareda nodded her head before she turned her attention back to her Master.

“The area is clear master, and I think you’ve rested long enough.”

Andrew let his displeasure show on his face before he got back to his feet.

“Fine… lets go ahead and get going… the sooner we get moving, the sooner we get out…”

“Aptly put Master… however, would you mind if we took a short detour?”

Looking at Labareda, Andrew cocked his head to the side in confusion and interest. 

“Depends on what it is you want to do really.”

Labareda smiled sweetly, making Andrew even more curious about what it was she wanted.

“It won’t take very long I believe… as for what it is I’m trying to do… well, we happen to be close to another sealed individual in the shadow labyrinth. I personally think you and I could do with some extra help. These past few days have had me draining more mana then what I can recover, and I think it would be nice to have an extra set of hands.”

Andrew saw the merit in what she was talk my about, and she wasn’t wrong about it being nice to have someone else to help out.

“Hum… I see what your talking about. Only issue I might have with it is if I’ll need to make another contract with another demon.”

“Oh you won’t need to worry about that. She’s not a demon.”

Andrew does his head to the side curiously at her words.

“Really? Then what is she?”

Labareda smiled a knowing smile as she began walking away.

“She’s what you might call a sorceress.”

That’s all his familiar said to him before he began following along after her, rather curious about this individual the demon was talking about. As they walked, Andrew found his thoughts start to revolve around this mysterious sorceress. Who was she? Why was she down here? What kind of a person was she. For the next hour or so, this was all he seemed to think of until eventually, He and Labareda found a spiral staircase much like the one he found his familiar at the bottom of. Andrew couldn’t help but think back to the last two flights of stairs he had come across and what each one had meant for him.

“I get the feeling the person we’re looking for will be down here?”

“That would be correct. Getting to her was the easy part, now comes the challenge.”

Looking at her curiously, Andrew posed the question that had formed in his mind.

“What challenge?”

“Getting her to help us.”

Andrew could only stare at her blankly as Labareda began her decent down the stairs, forcing Andrew to cut short his momentary confusion. Quickly following behind her, Andrew kept quiet for the time being as they descended down the stairs, the hard tapping of Labareda’s hooves seemingly acting as a metronome of sorts for him. For a minute or two, he didn’t say anything, but he eventually had to ask his familiar something.

“Labareda… why is it going to be hard to get this individual to help us?”

Labareda didn’t answer immediately, her furry hand coming up to her face to tap her chin.

“Hum… well… it’s easy to explain, but I think it would be better if you just saw her with your own eyes. It’ll become clear when you meet her.”

Not really feeling satisfied with that answer, Andrew could only sigh in annoyance and resignation.

“Alright… I guess I’ll just see this person for myself… but does she at least have a name I could call her by?”

“Her name is Unoma. She’s a powerful Sorceress who was well known for being both a genius at all forms of magical application, and for having more than enough power for some gods to actually be afraid of her. She even managed to obtain the ability to use the long sought after and almost impossible to achieve ultimate magic.”

Andrew blinked a few times before those words really set in.

“So she’s like some super powerful Mage… what the heck is she doing down here? And if she’s that powerful, why is she still down here?”

Labareda only smiled as she turned her attention back to the front.

“All questions that can be answered when you meet her… which should be right about now since we’ve arrived.”

Looking over her shoulder (which wasn’t very hard considering he was so much taller than his familiar) Andrew was quick to note that they had in fact hit the bottom of the stairs. The area they currently found themselves in was a little larger than the room Labareda had been found in, only this one lacked the distinctive ruins and glyphs that had bound her to it. As far as anyone would have seen, it was simply a room with nothing interesting in it… well, almost nothing. It took him a moment, but Andrew saw that the room wasn’t as empty as he had originally believed. Looking in the middle of the room, Andrew saw that someone was lying face down flat out, as if not even caring that such a position was obviously hard to sleep in. From what Andrew could see, the woman (for indeed it was female judging from large breasts that where squished out from under her) in the middle of the room had incredibly long silver hair that would have gone to her ankles if she had been standing. Her hands where a pale cream color, as if she used to have a nice complexion, but had deteriorated due to lack of sunlight. The only other thing he could see of her was the dark sorceress outfit she had on. It was comparable to the one the Mage had on that he had met some days ago. Even then, he couldn’t see a lot of it since she was covered by her hair. Other than that, Andrew couldn’t see her front or her face due to her being face down. For a moment, Andrew didn’t say anything, his mind trying to find the words that best went with this kind of situation.

“Um… is that… her?”

Andrew turned his attention back to Labareda to see if she might deny it or something similar. However, the smile on her face gave a different answer.

“Yep, that’s Unoma.”

Andrew looked back at the body just lying there, unmoving and lifeless.

“She’s not… dead… is she?”

“No, she’s just like that. Sadly, she probably hasn’t had a lot of human contact for the past few hundred years or so, so she might be stuck.”

“Stuck? What are you talking about?”

Not bothering to answer his question right that second, Labareda walked up next to the facedown Mage and looked at her for a moment before she lifted a hoof and lightly tapped Unomas arm.

“Oi you lazy bitch. Gonna get up anytime soon or am I gonna have to force you up?”

The only reply she got for her effort was a whole lot of nothing. Unoma remained unchanged. For a moment, nobody said anything, that is until the demon let out a low sigh.

“Jeez… you are really out of it huh? This is going to require some extreme stimuli.”

Not sure what she meant by that, Andrew watched on as Labareda walked to the witch's feet and turned to face her. For a moment or two, all she did was look at the witch before she nodded her head. Labareda held out her furry hand above her head and let out a low sigh in concentration. Andrew wasn't sure what she was doing at first, but a few seconds later and something happened. That 'something' being a scythe forming in the hands of his familiar. Andrew blinked a few times, not sure what exactly had just happened, but the longer he looked, the more he could see that yes, a scythe had just formed in her hands. It wasn't a normal looking weapon either, appearing to be made out of molten rock and fire then metal and wood while still managing to retain the sharp shape and detailed look of a real scythe. However, as amazing as it was for his familiar to summon one up, he wasn’t sure what having a flaming scythe would do for this situation. That is until he saw Labareda lift it high above her head and aimed the tip right for the facedown sorceress.

Eyes widening in shock, Andrew lifted his hand as if to stop her.

“Wait, what are you-!”

The swift fall of the scythe followed by the sickening sound of it embedding itself into something caused Andrew to jerk himself violently at the sudden display of horrendous violence.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?!”

Labareda looked to her master in a curious manner, all while swinging the scythe up with the witch still on it and embedding the bottom of the handle into the ground in a morbid kind of crucifixion of the woman with a scythe sticking out of her gut.

“What am I doing? I’m waking her up.”

“BY STICKING A SCYTHE IN HER GODDAMNED ABDOMEN!?! Get it out before you kill her if she’s not dead already!!”

“Master, I think you need to take a moment to step back and observe the situation currently as you seem to be making a rather erroneous assumption on your part.”

“Assumption!? Not much to assume when it comes to GUTTING someone! What the fuck are you-”

Before he could even begin his rant or try to save Unoma’s life, the sound of said sorceress moving caused him to cut it short.

“Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww…”

With a small cry that sounded more like an annoyed whine over an actual scream of pain, the sorceress lifted her head up for the first time since anybody had come into the room where she looked down at the scorching blade protruding from her chest, and oddly enough, between her rather large breasts. Andrew was quick to see that for being an old witch, Unoma didn’t look to be past her mid-twenties with a pale complexion on her pretty face and a lazy listless look in her violet eyes. On further inspection, Andrew saw that Unoma’s clothes where pretty much threadbare at this point, so much that for all the good it was doing her, she might as well be wearing nothing at all. However, where he was paying attention to her, Unoma was paying attention to the offending thing sticking out of her chest. She then brought her attention to everything else in the room, her eyes eventually falling on Labareda.

“Ah… now it makes sense.”

Andrew, for the life of him, couldn’t wrap his head around this situation and simply shook his head while bringing his voice up.

“Woah woah woah, hold up here! How does that explain anything! How are you still alive and in perfect working order despite having a scythe like blade sticking out of your chest?!”

Unoma, who wash busy extracting herself from said blade, didn’t answer. Labareda on the other hand had her attention free and her mouth open to explain.

“Easy master. Despite what my scythe may look like, it is in fact an extension of myself, so I can will it to cause permanent damage only if I want it to. Since I only wished to cause some moderate injury over fatal harm, at most Unoma here-”

Labareda jerked her thumb over her shoulder at mentioned person, said sorceress having worked herself off enough of the blade to fall on the floor flat on her face as she was indicated.

“- only incurred minimal damage. I pretty much just punched her with a blade is all. Thinking about it, I think that’s all I really needed to do.”

“If that’s all it took, then why did you need to get the scythe out?”

Labareda smiled smugly as she put her paws on her hips.

“I wanted to get a _point_ across.”

Blankly staring at his familiar for her terrible pun, Andrew turned his attention to Unoma, who was still face down on the ground. Walking over to her, Andrew bent down and flipped her over to see if she was still awake. She was, but she looked slightly miffed at the fact that she wasn’t being left alone. Andrew scratched the back of his head nervously before he tried to speak. However, Unoma cut him off before that.

“Who are you and why are you down here bothering me with Nah?”

Andrew cocked his head to the side in confusion before he decided to just rapid fire his answer.

“My name is Andrew, I’m down here bothering you because my familiar told me you might be able to help us, and what the heck is a Nah?”

“That would be me master.”

Andrew turned his attention back to Labareda, his confusion very evident. The demon familiar looked somewhat annoyed, that annoyance being directed mostly to Unoma before she brought her attention back to her master.

“Nah, that was the name given to me by Unoma when I was her familiar a very long time ago.”

Andrew looked at his familiar with a blank expression for a moment before he looked at the sorceress.

“Is she being serious?”

Said sorceress nodded her head before she let out a large yawn.

“Yup. Easy to remember.”

Andrew turned his attention back to Labareda, his eyes asking the question that wouldn’t come out of his mouth. Labareda, for her part, could only sigh in annoyance.

“Sadly master, that is the truth of the matter. Before she came down here: she was known for two things. Being a super genius sorceress… and for being so lazy that she was referred to as ‘Unoma the immovable’, legitimate title.”

Andrew looked back at said ‘immovable’ sorceress and saw that Unoma was already laying back down, only half interested in the duo that had disturbed her. Andrew let out an annoyed groan. He then came up next to his familiar and began to whisper in her ear.

“If she’s that bad, then how are we supposed to convince her to help us?”

Labareda smiled on as she directed Andrews attention back to the sorceress.

“How about, instead of asking me, you ask the person in question if she would like to help? Who knows? You may surprise yourself.”

Not sure what his familiar was getting at in this situation, Andrew decided to just do as she said and try to ask Unoma if she would be willing to lend assistance. As far as he knew, the worst she could say was no. Hesitating for only a moment longer, Andrew turned around and made his way next to Unoma, who looked as if she had gone back to sleep. However, she only looked it, as was indicated when she cracked her eyes open when Andrew stepped next to her.

“Can I help you…”

She ended up saying in a rather bored tone of voice, as if she would very much like to keep doing nothing. Andrew could only sigh internally before he decided to just get on with it.

“Listen… uh… Lady Unoma. I’ve been down here for five days now, eating things I wish I never knew about and going out of my mind with sheer boredom. All while remaining oblivious to how I got into this labyrinth or even why while housing the power of some kind of demon in my body. I honestly want your help cause Labareda, who you call Nah, said it would be a good idea to have you. Honestly though, it’s your call. You seem to want to be down here, and I think me getting in the way of that is kinda rude on my part, but I still wanna ask for your help. I’ll do what I can to help you if you want, but that’s all I can offer to you given the current situation.”

Unlike a moment ago, where the sorceress had simply been giving him a vague look, Unoma actually looked as if she was putting some thought into what he said. For the next few minutes, no one said anything. However, a contemplative hum from the woman in front of him caused Andrew to lightly cock his head in some anticipation.

“Hum… if I agree to come with you, would you be willing to make a contract with me?”

“Contract?”

Unoma nodded in affirmation.

“Yup. You do what I ask of you and I’ll use my powers for you.”

Andrew thought about it for a moment before he said something about it.

“Isn’t that a master-servent contract?”

“For the most part, but not exactly right either. Think of it as… you scratch my back and I’ll sleep on yours.”

Andrew wasn’t sure if that’s how it was said in this world, but he honestly wasn’t going to question it seeing as he was more surprised at how smoothly this was going.

“Alright, as long as it’s not anything too crazy, I’ll do anything you might ask of me.”

Unoma nodded her head slowly before she held her hand out to him.

“Excellent, now all you have to do is kiss my ring from finger, and the contract will be formed.”

"… Really? That’s it?"

"Yes, it's that simple."

Looking at her outstretched hand, Andrew noticed that her fingers looked thine and rather feminine. He found his mind wandering to what they might feel like when his lips touched them. Thinking about that for a moment, Andrew found that he wasn't very sure where that thought had come from exactly, but he didn't think too deeply on the meaning behind it. A moment later and Andrew found his hand under Unoma's before he gently placed a kiss on said ring finger. He was right in his general assumption that her fingers felt soft, but they also felt delicate in his hand, as if he might snap them if he was to squeeze too hard. That thought only lasted for the moment his lips where in contact with the Sorceress's hand, as when he pulled his mouth away he felt something form on his hand. Pulling his hand away to look at it, he saw that a kind of tattoo had formed around his ring finger on the right hand and saw that Unoma also had a similar tattoo on the finger he had kissed.

"Huh... well, that was easy."

So he said, but something akin to confusion followed by surprise formed on Unoma's face when she saw the pattern on her finger.

"That... huh... that wasn't supposed to happen..."

Confused, Andrew was about to ask what the sorceress was on about, but Labareda popping up next to him stopped him when he saw the look on her face.

"Uh-oh Unoma. You messed up. You didn't pay much attention to his Mana Levels, did you?"

Still confused about the current situation, Andrew felt the need to express his confusion verbally.

“What? Mana Levels? What are you two talking about here?”

Unoma, with a sigh, looked to Andrew with a half annoyed, half resigned look in her eyes.

“You don’t know very much about magic I see… so here’s what just happened. I initiated a general contract, cause it’s easier to deal with then the kind of contract you and Nah-”

“Labareda now thank you.”

“-you and Lab have. Mine was set up so that the one with the stronger power would be the master and the lesser one the familiar. I thought I was stronger then you in terms of magical energy, so that’s what I went with.”

Labareda interjected here, a highly amused expression on her face.

“Sadly, she didn’t bother checking to see if that was actually the case. In terms of who has more mana, you obviously have more then she does even if she is much stronger then you in terms of magical application.”

It took him a moment to let that sink in, but Andrew finally started to see what was going on here.

“So… I’m the master now? Can’t she just null the contract?”

Unoma shook her head in answer.

“The only way to negate it is if I get more mana then you, or if we find another Mage or sorcerer who happens to specialize in negating contracts. Until that happens, I guess I’m stuck like this until then… Dear Master.”

Andrew felt a tint of a blush forming on his face as Unoma called him that, but he kept it from his mind as her scratched the back of his head in thought.

“This isn’t going to mess anything up for you is it?”

Unoma only shook her head.

“No. If anything, this is actually pretty okay for me. Since you’re the master, I don’t have to think about things. So Dear Master can do anything he wants to me, please don’t make me work hard okay?”

Not sure how to answer that, Andrew simply turned his attention back to Labareda.

“Sooooo… I guess we did what we came down here to do. So let’s go ahead and get going.”

Andrew began making his way back up the stairs with his demon familiar in tow, but as his foot hit the first step, Unomas voice behind him stopped him.

“Dear Masteeeeeeeeeer.”

Turning his head around, Andrew saw that Unoma had yet to move. Somewhat baffled by this, the young man fully turned around and looked at his newest familiar.

“Unoma, what are you doing.”

“I apologize Dear Master, but I’m afraid that I haven’t used my legs in so long that I can’t use them properly. I fear they have atrophied after such a long time of neglect.”

Andrew blankly stared at her for a few seconds, the young man oblivious to his demons snickering at this prospect.

“You’re… you’re joking right now…right?"

The only answer he got out of her was when she lifted her arms up, as a child would to be picked up by their parent.

"Up please Dear Master. I will have to ask you to please carry me."

Despite his wanting to tell her to pick herself up and walk on her legs, despite the fact that this was in essence a full-grown woman, Andrew found that he honestly couldn't care anymore. Letting out a low sigh, Andrew turned himself around and bent down for her to get on his back. Doing just that, Unoma wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged herself close to him. Thankfully for Andrew, she was very light even though he would have thought otherwise. Labareda smiled at him, but she also looked a tad jealous.

"Hey, Master, you're going to have to let me try that out sometime soon."

"I'll think about it… now let's get going."

And with this newest addition to the party, the group made its way back into the Labyrinth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback appreciated


	3. Chapter 3

Hidden Doors

Chapter 3

“Alright Unoma. I have got to set you down now. My back is starting to kill me here.”

With something like a small whine escaping from her mouth, the sorceress only complied with her master's request and loosened her grip around his neck. Finally, happy to get a small reprieve, Andrew gently set Unoma down against the wall where he then took a seat next to her to give his lower back a break. Labareda, seeing as everyone was taking a small break, turned on her hooves and made her way to sit across from her master. Giving everyone a moment to settle in, Andrew finally spoke up.

“Alright Labareda… it’s been… eight days since we’ve started. How far along have we come in terms of distance?”

Labareda thought about it for a moment before she gave him an answer.

“Well, according to your means of measurement, we happen to have traveled an approximate of sixty-four miles.”

Andrew let out a surprised grunt at the number.

“Jesus… how big is this labyrinth anyway?”

Rather than Labareda giving him an answer, Unoma spoke up past a yawn.

“The labyrinth is actually quite large if all of its space was laid out into the world, probably taking up half a continent. However, seeing as it would be more easily noticed if that was the case, the overlord who owned it created dimensional layers of it that overlapped with each other. This in turn created one of the most difficult dungeons around to conquer... or so I had heard from other adventurers. I didn’t bother to memorize the details.”

Andrew hummed in curiosity at that before he turned back to Labareda.

“That true?”

“Pretty much spot on. However, seeing as Unoma doesn’t pay much attention to anything outside of her own interest, she’s not aware that this placed had also been used for other things. Like a prison for powerful demons like myself, or execution grounds for deserters... amongst other things.”

Nodding once again in affirmation, Andrew thought about the prison bit until he thought back to his first experience here.

“So I take it the overlord who made this place was also sealed up inside of it? I can assume where I was when I started out here was where his power was sealed?”

Surprisingly, Labareda shook her head.

“No, the overload who made this place is different from the one you absorbed. Very different mana signatures, plus, the one you have is much worse by comparison.”

“How much worse?”

Unoma leaned too far to the side and slid into Andrews lap, her eyes looking up as she spoke from his waist.

“The overlord who built this place was more the intellectual type. Yours was a bloodthirsty monster that conquered worlds and slaughtered hundreds for his own fun. Odu Nobulax was his name. He was feared for many years before a hero killed him and sealed his power away.”

Pondering on that for a moment, Andrew thought about the implications for him in having something like that inside of him. Looking to Labareda, Andrew couldn't help but nervously tap his chin.

"You did say some days ago that the ego behind this power was already gone... right?"

"Don't worry Master. If there had been even a trace of it left, you'd already be a blood crazed maniac by now."

Unoma, who brought herself closer to Andrew and was using most of his lap as an upper body pillow, looked between the two of them before a sudden thought came to mind.

"Speaking of mana... It's good that you have a very large amount... you can do things with such an amount that even I would have some problems with... but I'm curious about something here. Why aren't you supplying Nah-"

"Labareda, how many times will I need to say this before it sticks you-"

"… why aren't you supplying Labareda with any of your energy Dear Master?"

Andrew looked to Unoma, who had all but turned into a lap cat at this point, before he shrugged his shoulders.

"Not sure. You'll have to ask her about it."

Andrew indicated to Labareda, who only looked slightly annoyed. However, she didn't answer right away and instead opted to just keep quiet for a moment before Unoma hummed in thought.

"Well that’s interesting... are you just not taking it willingly or is it something else..."

Realizing that she wasn't going to be able to keep quiet about It for long, the demon girl let out a low sigh before she answered.

"For some reason, I can't get Mana normally anymore."

Now both Unoma and Andrew where curious, the quizzical look from the both of them forcing Labareda to let out another sigh, this one filled with resignation. Before she spoke, Unoma cut in with a question.

"Do you mean that your Mana Channels are blocked or altered in some way?"

"The latter. Mana doesn't transfer as by trying to absorb it via the atmosphere, and eating things just gives me the absolute bare minimum to even function. All of my Mana channels are in the proper place, but it seems that the actual ability to absorb mana is running most strongly here."

Using a furry digit, Labareda pointed to just below her naval. It took Andrew a moment, but he suddenly realized that where she was pointing was...

Unoma spoke up, actually having gotten up off Andrews lap and having moved closer to look at where Labareda was pointing. For a moment, all she did was stare until she tapped where Labareda was pointing at.

"That’s where your womb would be located."

Now she had the attention of both people present with Andrew being the first to speak up.

"Seriously? I know Labareda looks like a girl, but does she actually have a womb?"

He shut his mouth when his own familiar gave him a sour look.

"Of course I have a womb. My original form may not have been very humanoid in nature, but I am still a female of my race and thus I can conceive children if I so wished."

Feeling as if he may have made a small mistake, Andrew gave her an apologetic look followed by a small apology.

“Sorry.”

However, that just made him more aware of her seeing as for the last 8 days she hasn’t worn any type of clothing due to the fact that he hadn't been trying to think of her as an actual female and more a demon wearing human skin. Before anything else could be said though, Unoma piped in with an inquisitive hum.

“Interesting…”

Watching her for a moment, Labareda and Andrew where curious to see Unoma looking at her own belly, or where her own womb was no doubt. She seemed to poke at it for a moment before she brought her attention back to Andrew.

“Fascinating, it would appear that my own Magical circuits are much the same way. When did that happen I wonder…”

“Beats me. You two are the magical experts, not me. But are you two going to be okay?”

Unoma seemed to think about it for a moment before crawled back over and lay herself down, nestling her head in his lap.

“I’m not sure yet Dear Master. we’ve been fine for the past few days with no issues, and we seem to get mana via eating at least. But I have noticed a lack of mana coming from both the atmosphere and from our connection with you. I’m not sure what that is, but it does weaken us a bit.”

Cocking his head to the side in a curious manner, Andrew started to stroke his chin curiously in thought.

“Maybe you guys need some kind of mana injection? Like maybe I could put it in you somehow… though I have no idea how that would happen.”

However, both of his familiar’s eyes cocked upward in some surprise followed by deep thought.

“Injecting mana…”

“Maybe it would work? Is his body ready for that kind of thing?”

“It’s been eight days, I think he’s had enough time to adjust… the question now becomes how though…”

Andrew looked between the both of them, obviously having been left out of the conversation at this point. He was not to be ignored for long though as the both of them looked at him at the exact same time. It weirded him out a bit, but Unoma speaking put that to the back of his mind.

“If we have been changed… then maybe…”

The sorceress turned her head back to face his stomach before she gave his body a good long hard look. Moving her hand over his pelvic area, Andrew found himself curious about what she was doing before he noticed the glow around her hand. Moving her hand over his pelvic region, Unoma seemed to keep it there for a few moments until she eventually seemed to hum in surprise.

“I see I see…”

Letting out a small grunt, Andrew managed to get her attention.

"As Interesting as it is for you to put your hand so close to my dick, what exactly do you see here?”

Not even missing a beat, Unoma turned her attention up toward Andrew with a small smile on her face.

“I find it very interesting that myself and Nah have not been the only ones to be changed.”

Andrew could only ponder on that for a moment longer before the next words out of her mouth almost made him do a spit take.

"Drop your pants."

“…what? Why? What does that have to do with anything?”

“I need to test something Dear Master. And I need you to expose your manly bits to figure it out. So if you would be so kind as to take off your offending clothing, it would be helpful in speeding this process up.”

Looking at Unoma for a moment in sheer bafflement, Andrew turned his attention to Labareda in some hope she might oppose this idea. All she gave him was a look that pretty much told him that she was on board with this plan. Seeing that he was pretty much outnumbered in this situation, Andrew let out a small sigh before he shook his head in compliance.

“Alright alright, just get off me for a moment so I can get them off.”

Complying with his request, Unoma did as she was asked and sat upright, allowing Andrew to get to his feet. He looked at her for a moment, feeling just a little uncomfortable about undressing himself in this manner, but he had been told to expose himself to a doctor on numerous occasions, so he wasn’t that perturbed. Hesitating for only a moment longer, Andrew fiddled with his belt and buttons before the sounds of his pants falling to the ground resounded in the dark hallway they inhabited. The look he got from both his familiars was one of someone looking at something they happened to like, and he wasn’t sure if he should feel flattered or embarrassed about it. However, the looks came to an end when Unoma started to scratch her chin in thought.

“I can’t really tell from looking at it…what’s your opinion Labareda?”

Looking only for a moment, Labareda crawled her way over before she sat down next to Andrew, her face very close to his crotch area and causing him to feel a little more excited then he should at the proximity of her mouth to his groin.

"Hum... I'm unsure... but I feel that a great deal of his magical potential can be located here."

Using her furry digit, Labareda poked her pawtip into Andrews ball gently, getting a small sound of surprise from his lips.

"Hey, don't touch me like that out of the blue.”

Looking up at him for a moment in some confusion, Labareda cocked her head to the side in cute puzzlement.

“I apologize master. Do you not like being touched?”

Thinking about that for a moment, Andrew felt a slight blush creep up on his face.

"No... that’s not it... I... well... I don't really know. I'm afraid I might start getting the wrong idea otherwise."

However, he was not expecting Labareda to give him a quizzical look.

"Wrong idea?"

Unoma spoke up next, a seemingly knowing smile on her face.

"I believe he doesn't want to think that you would be willing to engage in sexual acts with him."

Andrew felt his face flush deeply at that and started to stammer.

"N-No! No no no! That’s not what I'm assuming here at all!"

Labareda's next words stopped him midsentence.

"Ah, so you do not wish to engage in sex with me? I had assumed you making me walk around unclothed for the past week was for your own sexual gratification."

"I... what?"

Unoma was starting to giggle at this point, her body quivering as she tried not to laugh to hard.

"Oh Dear Master... one would believe that that was what you were up to had they seen this. Though don't get us wrong, if you commanded it, Labareda would more than happily have done so. As a matter of fact, I would have had no issue with such an order myself."

Andrew was currently having a hard time processing all this information, but his body was starting to get very honest as his mind began to picture the things he could order these women to do for him. This fact didn't go unnoticed as both his familiars noticed that his previously limp member began to enlarge itself. Andrew noticed this change, and his mind was reeling at having popped a boner in this fashion in front of two rather attractive females, but he didn’t try to cover himself. Unoma glanced down at his enlarged cock, a rather lustful tone overtaking her expression.

"Well well... I think we happen to have the right variables to check and see if we can inject Mana in an unorthodox method."

Andrew was still rather confused by everything going on, but he hadn't quite lost his ability to speak just yet.

"What?"

Even if it was regulated to one-liners.

"Oh dear Master, we're going to be doing what you suggested. You'll be injecting mana into us. We'll be seeing if the large quantities of mana found in your groin can be transferred via our womb. Basically, you'll need to engage in coitus with us to test this out."

"I... have so many things I wanna say about this right now..."

Labareda nuzzled her face close to Andrews dick, the softness of her cheeks and the warmth of her breath across his length forcing his dick to harden even further.

"What is there to say Master? I have no issues with this, as it seems it will be both practical... and very enjoyable."

That last part came out in a breathy whisper, though there was no way he didn’t hear what she just said. Feeling rational quickly falling away to a deeper and darker inner desire, Andrew looked between the both of them and could only attempted to act somewhat gentlemanly about it.

"Alright alright... at this point I guess I can't say no since we all pretty much consent to this... though... do you mind if I start with you Labareda? You've gone the longest without a Mana recharge after all."

The demon could only slyly smile at him before she lay herself back against the wall, her legs just barely apart and her arms held wide for an embrace.

"Feel free master, I am in your care... or at your mercy should that be your taste." 

Andrew only just barely restrained himself from straight up jumping her. It had been a very long time, almost 3 years, since he had last had a sexual experience. The only thing he might say about this situation though is that his current partner looked very young, and though he harbored some lolicon tendencies, he knew that it was very morally wrong. However, some dark little thing in the back of his mind seemed to push him onward toward this dark little fantasy brought to life, the inhibitions he had being not quite as strong now then back in his home.

Only thinking about it for a moment longer, Andrew walked over to her, his erection still throbbing as his mind came up with what to do next. What he did next somewhat surprised both of his familiars. Andrew, not wanting to get his fatigues dirty, quickly removed the rest of his clothing before he sat down right next to Labareda and picked her up and placed her in his lap, the feeling of her thighs around his cock feeling strangely warm and erotic. Ignoring it for a moment, Andrew slipped his arm around her mid-rife and gently pushed her back into the crook of his arm. The demon was confused at first, not sure what exactly her master was doing, but the feeling of his hand coming to rest on one of her budding breasts told her that he still intended with the current idea. Labareda felt his hand gently begin to caress her tit, the workings of his fingers feeling calm, but at the same time, a little hesitant. She didn’t stop him though, her face beginning to flush and her body reacting to the small stimulation. The next instant and the demon felt her masters other hand, this time, on her navel. However, it didn’t stay there for very long, his warm fingers making their way further down to her sex. There, his fingers began to slowly fiddle with her, the feeling stirring her with a great deal of lust as his fingers began exploring her lower body. Labareda let out a throaty sigh, her body not having experienced this kind of touch in a very long time. However, she was not a demon that sat idle for very long, and she felt she had a very ripe opportunity in her lap… or between it given the situation.

Gently closing her thighs around her Masters engorged member, the demon began to gently stroke his cock with her thighs. Andrew stopped for a moment, unsure of what exactly to do with this given situation, but a paw from Labareda on his own hand told him to keep going. Feeling some of his hesitation fall away, Andrew continued to play with her body. Andrew tried to pay attention to what some of his touching did, and noted how his familiar would react when he would touch her in certain ways, the shivering of her body an indication to him that he was doing something right. Only thing was, he was finding it a little hard to concentrate with the way she would move her hips, the firm but gentle stroking of her thighs feeling heavenly to him. Andrew was one to pay back what was given several times over and he began to get more… experimental, the hand down between her thighs finally plucking the courage to venture further inside. She tried to hide it, but her slight intake of breath told him she had not been ready for it, though the brightening blush on her face told him that it had been far from painful. Bringing himself to focus, Andrew found his finger could easily probe deeper, the slickness of her inner walls being almost unimaginably wet and smooth. Andrew momentarily slowed at the thought of what it might be like if he stuck his cock inside her, but he stopped his thoughts when he realized he had almost stopped. Labareda could feel more of his thoughts at this range, and thus she could feel a great deal of hesitation riddled with fear and impatience.

“Relax master. Though I can feel your hesitation, I can feel experience in these hands of yours, and they are in no way lacking in granting me pleasure. Let us enjoy each other master, let our bodies be fused as tightly as our souls.”

Bringing herself up to his surprised face, Labareda brought a paw up to his chest before she brought her lips in touch with his own, the feeling of lips between the two melting away unnecessary thoughts from their minds. Andrew felt her lips on his own, and he could feel his mind burning away with desire, the feeling only consuming him further when she brought her other paw over his cock and began to stroke the head along with her thighs. Giving up being careful, Andrew let the adrenaline and pleasure take over, his hands gripping more tightly, plunging more deeply, all to bring his familiar further pleasure; the heat of her lips seemingly adding to his lust. A few moments later though and Andrew was surprised to feel his familiar start to quiver in his arms, her pussy clenching down hard on his fingers while she embraced him in the throws of what was no doubt her orgasm. Andrew was a little confused at first, but he let Labareda hold onto him for a good deal of time, though in the process, he extracted his hand and saw the clear liquid of her pleasure on his fingers.

“I-I apologize Master…”

Pulling herself away, Labareda had a deep blush on her face with a shy grin etched across her mouth.

“What do you mean?”

“As silly as it is of me to say… it has been a very very long time since I last had any kind of sexual activity done to myself that… well… I didn’t last as long as I thought I would.”

Unoma, who had been watching (and if anybody bothered to look at her own slick fingers, doing more than that) let out a small sigh.

“Cumming before our Dear Master? What a pitiful demon you are Lab. This totally defeats the purpose of our experiment you know.”

Labareda looked at the magic caster with an annoyed glare.

“I am well aware of that Unoma!”

Bringing her attention back to Andrew, Labareda pulled herself out of his grasp before she lay herself on the floor, looking very defenseless as she held her arms up for him and her legs opened wide, her lower body practically gushing with fem fluid.

“I’ll do better this time. So please Master, let us enjoy our time together.”

Andrew could only swallow loudly, his body aching from her earlier ministrations. Andrew crawled over to his familiar before he placed his throbbing dick right on her wet snatch. Even from that small touch he could tell how hot she felt, and his body longed desperately to fill up that small hole of hers, the need almost being primal. Andrew spent a moment testing his cock against her little slit, the crown of dick meeting some resistance as he tried. A moment later though and he felt something savagely push him from behind, forcing his cock into Labaredas wet pussy. Neither one had been expecting it, but Andrew was trying his hardest not to ejaculate right then and there, the feeling of his familiar’s inner folds beyond anything he had ever experienced in a woman before. He was sure that if he so much as moved now, he would blow his load right then and there. Labareda was not suffering through such an extreme feeling however, and looked over behind her master to see Unoma leaning back after having shoved Andrew into the demon familiar.  
  
“I’m not going to sit around and wait all day you know.”

Labareda would have said something, but she could feel her master clenching up tightly. She turned her attention back to him and saw that he was biting his lower lip in an attempt to not humiliate himself.

“I’m sorry master, clearly someone doesn’t know how to wait. Feel free to go at your own pace.”

Andrew simply nodded his head in answer, not trusting himself to not straight up cum should he lose his focus. A minute or so later, after having finally gotten himself use to the feeling, Andrew wrapped his arms around the demon, tightly embracing her before he started to gently rock his hips back and forth. However, even that was a challenge for him as this feeling was akin to mind blowing, something about her vagina being perfect in every way for him. This wasn’t to last long however. Andrew felt his body wanting to go faster, to ravage the cunt he was inside of, and something in him spurred him, something deep in his body telling him to not just go faster, but to go harder, to ravish her and her insides with his everything.

“Master?”

Labareda felt Andrew begin to pick up the pace, almost to quickly if she was to judge correctly. However, Andrew could feel his desires winning over, and with it, his speed increase. Andrew started off slow, but it didn’t last long as with each passing second, he would sink further and further into her, his hips bucking with more intensity until a few minutes later, he was almost jackhammering into her, the slapping of flesh audible along with Andrews grunts and moans. Labareda wasn’t far behind Andrew in terms of her pleasure, her body craving this as she let out small shrikes of pleasure each time he dived inside of her.

“M-Master! More! Please more! I’m almost their master!”

Andrew could hear her, and he felt it in her, how she was starting to tense up, because he felt he was almost there himself. The pressure was building and building until eventually he felt something in his loins spring, and what felt like white fire lance through his groin. Andrew hugged Labareda even tighter to the point that if she had just been a normal girl, he would be crushing her to death in his embrace right now.

“Master! Master master mastermastermastermaster!!! UNNNNGH!”

Andrew felt his familiar’s pussy clench down on his cock as tightly as he was gripping her, the feeling causing the both of them to white out, Andrews spunk almost streaming into the cavity of Labaredas womb. For a moment or two, the both of them stayed that way, but the adrenaline in their bodies could only keep them up for so long before Andrew collapsed, landing on top of Labareda before he managed to roll himself off of her.

The both of them huffed in exhaustion for a minute or two before the sound of an interested hum caused Andrew to look over at where it had come from. Andrew saw that Unoma was leaning over Labareda, quizzically examining her belly. Labareda also came to notice this and a moment later, worked herself up into a sitting position.

“Can’t even give me a moment to enjoy the afterglow?”

“I could, but I’m rather interested in how your feeling after that. Do you feel as if your mana has recharged at all?”

Labareda let out a small sigh before she closed her eyes and placed her furry mits over her womb. A moment later and she opened her eyes in small shock.

“So, I did, and a great deal of it at that.”

Unoma, not bothering to adhere to the rules of personal space, poked at the demon’s belly.

“How much would you say in a rough estimate.”

“About… fifteen or so percent.”

“Fascinating.”

Andrew, whom had simply watched the two of them, opted to speak up.

“So, what does that mean?”

Unoma turned around and gave Andrew a thoughtful look.

“Well Dear Master, it means that our test has drawn up interesting results. It does in fact seem as if sex will be the main way to recharge our mana in the near future, your stamina notwithstanding. However, I find it fascinating that this is the case as in the usual case, only succubi can do this. It raises a great deal of questions, and I’m curious to see if the same holds true for me as well. However, your prime concern should be for Lab right now. She has gone the longest without mana recharge, and I get the feeling that she may want a few more rounds with you to get herself into at least adequate shape.”

Curious, Andrew looked over at his familiar and saw that she had a dangerous glint in her eye that spoke volumes of what her current intentions where.

“Oh boy…”

Was all he could say before he was jumped. Needless to say, it was going to be a while.

**Xx an hour later. xX**

Labareda nuzzled her cheek into Andrew neck, hugging tightly onto him as he did his best to recover.

“You couldn’t have let me rest for like… ten minutes out of all that time?”

“I apologize master, but it had been such a long time since I could get so much mana at once, I honestly couldn’t help myself.”

Letting out a sigh filled with exasperation, Andrew only turned his head to look at Unoma, who was currently nestled on his other side.

“And what are you doing exactly?”

“Testing something. I noticed ever since you started carrying me around that, my own Mana seems to be refilling, albeit at a very slow pace. I quickly came to the conclusion I could recover mana by simply staying in contact with you at all times. I find it fascinating, and I’m curious to see if the removal of clothing accelerates this process.”

Andrew blinked a few times before he mentally shrugged.

“Well that explains why your naked then… so is it working?”

“From the feel of it Dear Master, it does seem to be the case, though it still seems that the act of vaginal penetration is by and far the best method to recover mana.”

Andrew let out a sigh at that. The reason they knew vaginal was best was because Unoma made Andrew try all kinds of sexual acts on Labareda. Of course, it seemed odd that he managed to keep it up for an hour, his usual time lasting less than ten minutes, but Unoma mentioned that it may have had something to do with his magic… and maybe a little of her own magic supplying him from behind the scenes.

“Well, if you want me to do you next, then you’re going to need to give me a little bit of time to recover. Maybe later when we get some sleep, but for now, we need to get back on track on getting out of here.”

Both of his familiars gave him something akin to a pout on their faces, but it was short lived before the both of them did as he asked. A few minutes of clothing and light washing later, the trio was ready to get started again. Though Unoma wanted to be carried bridal style this time, Andrew put his foot down. Eventually getting started again, the trio continued on, the labyrinth looking as dank and dark is it always had from the start. For the next few hours, it was nothing but trudging along in the dark, the occasional encounter with some beast of the labyrinth forcing Labareda to slow the group and kill the monster in question. Over the course of the past few days, Andrew had begun to notice that the monsters they seemed to encounter didn’t seem to fit with the surrounding area, a number of times they had encountered large flying monsters that looked a lot like Drake’s. They had been easily dispatched, but he was sure that if they hadn’t been in such enclosed areas, they would have been much more difficult. Unoma scrounged up an explanation for him in that the labyrinth itself simply generated copies of monsters that may have wandered in at some point. It didn’t seem to care what might or might not be in here nor what kinds of advantages or disadvantages the creature may have. Though it did make for interesting encounters when they found such beasts.

Eventually, it was starting to get to be that time when the group started to settle down for some sleep. However, before they could even begin thinking on the prospect of rest, Labareda seemed to zoom in on something further down the hall, her eyes focused and her body poised for action. Noticing this, Andrew spoke up.

“What’s wrong?”

His familiar didn’t answer right away, Labareda’s ears swiveling around on her head for a moment before standing straight up.

“It sounds like combat. I think someone up ahead is fighting.”

For a moment, Andrew’s thought turned to the adventuring group he had encountered a few days ago. He could be wrong and it might be another group, but he wasn’t sure. However, he couldn’t help but think about how he had treated them the last time he saw that group. Harsh and uncaring with his words. He suddenly felt a pang of guilt, but he threw the thought out when he remembered that Labareda had said there was combat going on.

“I see…”

Was all that came out of his mouth, but something in him was saying that maybe he should help. However, he wasn’t the one who would be fighting.

“Um… as troubling as it might be, do you two mind if we help out real quick? Or see if we can help?”

Labareda looked to him curiously before she shook her head.

“I don’t very much mind. I needed to hunt something to eat anyway… plus, whatever is up ahead would more than likely come this way and bother us anyway, so we’re just cutting a problem off before it gets here.”

Unoma let out a yawn before she nuzzled her cheek into Andrews neck as she gripped onto him tighter.

“Whatever you want to do my Dear Master.”

Nodding at the both of them, Andrew let Labareda lead the way. After a minute, he also began to hear the sounds of combat that his Familiar had heard. It sounded a lot like the impact of weapons on weapons, as what would be expected. Though he was sure he occasionally heard the sound of grunts and shouts of pain. Eventually the saw a corner they could round, and from the sounds of it, the fighting was going on just around it. Instead of running out like a group of idiots though, they opted to peek around the corner to see what they could of the situation. The first thing the group saw was the backs of several large and imposing bodies, rotund, but not seeming to lack in muscle. Though not heavily armored, the dozen or so bodies that filled the hallway seemed to not worry all that much about the state of their dress. This gave Andrew a very good view of the throbbing erections the pig-men seemed to be sporting, and he obviously felt maybe a dash jealous of the size, though why they seemed to have them left him puzzled. Unoma’s humming in contemplation as she looked on broke him away from his train of thought though.

“Well would you look at that. A group of orcs. I wonder what they happen to be doing here in the… oh, never mind.”

Curious about why she stopped explaining, Andrew focused his attention back to the orcs themselves and saw a gap open up as one of the porcine creatures fell to the ground, someone having tackled it to the ground with there blade jammed right into it’s throat. The person quickly extracted their sword from the orc and stood up on it bulbous body, panting heavily with a raging look in their eyes.

“Come on you fat fucks! If you want me then your gonna need to try harder!”

Andrew was stunned at first, but then his eyes widened in sheer surprise and disbelief, his earlier curiosity of why the orcs where horny being answered, and the look of the person in front of him leaving him unsure of the current situation.

“That can’t be… no fucking way…”

Both Unoma and Labareda looked at him curiously.

“Is something the matter Master?”

Andrew didn’t answer immediately, but he quickly put Unoma down and drew his attention back to the fray.

“Unoma, see if you can help from back here, Labareda, you and I are going to do what we can to help that person out.”

Both of his familiars looked at him in some mild shock, there master never having taken part in any of the fighting up to this point.

“Um… Master… are you sure your-”

Before she could continue, Andrew rounded the corner quickly and shouted out at the large orcs.

“Oi you fat fucks! Come pick on something your own size!”

The sound of his voice caused everything in front of him to divert there attention away from what they where doing to look at him. For a moment, everyone was stunned, but it quickly gave way to other reactions. The orcs only seemed to slovenly smile, not considering him a threat the way he looked, while the person in the middle of this fray could hardly even belive what it was they where looking at before they shook themselves out of it and shouted at him.

“Run away you idiot!”

Andrew ignored that and instead aimed for the orc closest to him. The orc, obviously not feeling threatened by him, lifted a massive ax in it’s hand brought it down when he got close. However, Andrew had expected the action stopped short of where the ax fell. The orc, surprised by this, didn’t get it back up fats enough for it to take a second swing, the shape of another figure jumping up from behind him causing it to see what that was. It didn’t get a clear view before it felt the searing sting of a blade across it’s neck. Labareda kicked its detached head off its shoulders into the face of the next orc, the creature unsure of what hit it before the feeling of a searing blade in it’s abdomen caused it to see a blade of fire protruding from it’s chest. It was then that the rest of the orcs noticed that the situation had turned deadly serious, but before they could really try to get a handle on the situation, several lances of ice came shooting from further down the hall where the male had come from, impaling a good number of them. Andrew did his best to stay out of the way of his familiars, and instead went to help out the individual in question, who had just gotten done gutting one of the distracted orcs. However, he approached the individual carelessly, not thinking that they might be swinging on reflex. Andrew called out to the person in front of him just as she extracted the sword out of the orcs belly.

“Hey, are you-”

The next thing he knew, his head moved automatically as he just barely avoided receiving a gash straight across his face.

“Jesus Christ!”

The hand holding that sword stopped short in the air when the person realized that they just took a swing at him.

“Oh shit! Watch it you moron! You can’t be sneaking up on people like that unless you wanna get killed!”

Andrew took a few steps back, his hands up in front of him to indicate he meant no harm.

“Sorry, sorry… your right… but, if you don’t mind my asking-”

Before he could get another word in, the person lunged forward with there blade aimed directly at his stomach. Andrew realized too late what was happening and tried to move out of the way, but the sword was much faster. However, unlike what he was expecting, the sword bypassed him and went beside him, the sound of blade piercing flesh causing Andrew to turn around to see an orc had snuck up on him. The pig man fell to the ground gurgling as his lifeblood poured out of the wound.

“Get it together and get off the battlefield!”

Andrew listened to the individual berate him for a moment longer before they where gone, another orc falling to the blade they wielded. However, Andrew had managed to get a close-up view of the individual in question when she had lunged.

“So I wasn’t mistaken… she does look just like her…”

Contemplating what it was he just saw, Andrew brought his attention back to his surroundings when fireballs rained on what was left of the orcs, Labareda jumping back to get away from the blast radius while the new girl was just finishing up another orc some distance away from the blast. Andrew took it all in before he realized that he should probably get himself out of the way or he might suffer from friendly fire. However, he didn’t notice that one of the orcs behind him had been smarter then the others. Instead of trying to fight out in this situation, it had opted to play dead when a particular ice spike had knocked it flat on it’s ass. Now that everyone seemed to be distracted, it could see the best way to take charge of the situation. Slowly getting to it’s feet, the thing dashed forward and Grabbed Andrew from behind, using its massive arms to hold him tight. Andrew, caught unawares, could only let out a half-garbled yell as the creature’s massive arms wrapped around his upper torso. The thing could only laugh at it’s luck, but the sound of someone shouting caught its attention, causing it to see that the girl with the scythe from earlier could see what had just happened and had dashed forward, pure murder in her eyes. The orc, panicking, held him up in front of him out of desperation. However, Labareda came to a halt, the things use of a hostage working very much against her. The orc, sensing that it wasn’t dead yet, looked back and saw that Labareda wasn’t doing anything. It realized that it had the upper hand in this situation and looked on at her in triumph. Andrew however, was still in the middle of trying to get himself out, the stupid orc squeezing far to tight for him to breath properly.

“Fucking…lemme… go… dumb… fuckin… pig… *hack*!”

Sadly, the creature didn’t have an idea of what he was saying, but it squeezed him tighter to shut him up. At that point, the other girl along with Unoma could see the situation that Andrew was in. However, it was a tense situation since they couldn’t move carelessly. The orc looked to the left and then to the right before it saw a chance to escape. Keeping Andrew held tight in it’s grip and hoisted up in front of him, the thing began to slowly back away. However, the tense situation caused it to squeeze him harder, and at this point, Andrew couldn’t even inhale. Deep in his mind he wanted the orc to let him go, or at least loosen up a bit so he could get a breath of air, but things where starting to grow dim in his mind, and the only thing that started swirling around was how he **just. Wanted. It. To. Let. Go.** Nothing but anger at the orc was filling his mind now just as he started to no doubt pass out from oxygen deprivation. Unoma, way in the back, felt something in her master start to well up. At first, she wasn’t sure what was going on, but then it quickly became clear.

“Is he trying to tap into the demonic energy in his body? … this might end badly… LAB! Grab the other girl and get out of there!”

Looking back, Labareda looked at Unoma as if she had just cussed her out.

“Fuck you! I’m not leaving the master in the clutches of that thing!”

“Do what I say you foolish Infernal! Something about to happen!”

Blinking curiously, Labareda looked back to her master. It took her a moment, but then she realized what it was that was going on.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhh shit!”

Without a second thought, she grabbed the other girl by the arm and jumped back very far, very quickly. Not sure what was going on, the orc could only cock its head to the side in confusion. Sadly for it, it could not detect magic, nor the sheer amount of magical buildup going on in its arms. Andrew was pretty much working on auto-piolet at this point, the ability to be conscious pretty much gone at this point. And in the place of that missing consciousness was nothing but emotion, the raw emotions of fear and anger. A moment later, upon which the orc noticed his captive had stopped squirming in his arms, and suddenly, some dark substance erupted from outside of the body in it’s arms. In Sheer panic, it dropped him, but suddenly, it felt as if it had been caught up in something and was being picked up off it’s feet. It let out squeals of panic, like a pig, and it thrashed about trying to escape whatever had it. It could not see that it was caught in the hands of some massive fist appearing out of a rift in space, massive and looking as if they belonged on the arm of a demon. Those hands began to squeeze the life out of the orc, it’s vain thrashing and squeals useless in the face of uncaring resolve to end life. Eventually, the sound of crunching bone and squelching meat followed by one last scream in the face of death indicated the orcs demise, the blood and pulp of meat and organ oozing from between the giant fist. The onlookers couldn’t help but think that it was a gruesome death by any standard, however, that’s all they thought of the creature’s death, the individual close to the hand being the main focus of at least two of the people present. Labareda and Unoma could see that their masters eyes where wide open, but it would appear that he was unconscious in that state. His final collapse to the floor indicated that he was out for the count at that point, and when he lost consciousness, the hand vanished, leaving the orcs crushed corpse to fall to the ground in a wet splat. For a moment, Unoma and Labareda didn’t dare move, but after 6 seconds, Labareda was the first to move. She was next to her master in a flash. She moved her head next to his chest to hear if his heart was still beating. Thankfully, she could hear his lungs filling with air along with his heart pumping blood, causing a relived sigh to escape her lungs. Unoma, who had floated herself over before she landed right next to Labareda, saw the relived look on her fellow familiar’s face, letting a small sigh of relief escape her own lips.

“Glad to see he’s okay… it worried me when he started to release such an abhorrent amount of demonic energy.”

“I wouldn’t be all that relived just yet though Unoma… you saw what I just saw.”

At that, Unoma turned her attention to there master, a look of contemplation on her face before she ran a hand over Andrews sleeping face.

“Manifestation… the original power of Odu Nobulax… it would appear that our master has access to at least one of that tyrant’s pets… however, I fear if he will have access to all of them.”

Labareda simply looked at Andrew, worry in her eyes.

“We won’t know for sure if that’s the case or not… for now, we should keep an eye on him and make sure a situation like this one doesn’t happen again… speaking of situations…”

Both familiars looked back at the cause of there current situation. Standing some distance back, looking for all intents and purposes as lost as a man in the middle of the desert, was the girl that Andrew had gone through the trouble of saving. To the both of them, she looked to be about nineteen or so years old, with fiery red hair tied up into twin ponytails with unassuming black ribbons. Her eyes where a lighter shade of her hair color, with her face looking as if she was always annoyed or pouting about something, though currently is was stuck on worried. She was dressed in a tattered looking long sleeve quilted shirt with a rough looking padded leather armor with metallic studs in it hanging over that. She had a large metal pauldron in the shape of a shield on her left shoulder, though the thing looking as if it had seen a good deal of combat over it’s life. The two familiars had to question why this girl wore a skirt though, but long leather boots that went well past her knees allowed them to figure that she was looking more for mobility over heavy protection. The girl looked to the two women looking at her curiously and let out a nervous noise.

“Um… so… is that guy okay? He didn’t get hurt, did he?”

Unoma eyed her for a moment longer before she let out a small sigh.

“Not seriously, no. he does appear to have some bruising around his neck where that orc had him, but he seems fine… physically. Spiritually, he may have overstrained himself using his powers for the first time.”

The girl looked back at Andrew, a look of worry on her face.

“I see… I hope it didn’t hurt him too badly then… By the why, who are you guys?”

Both Labareda and Unoma looked to each other, some confusion on there faces before Labareda stood up and walked over to the other girl. Labareda only came up to half the other girl’s height, but she managed to make herself look imposing… her scythe still being out might have had something to do with her intimidation factor.

“My name is Labareda, and the mage over there is called Unoma. As for the man on the ground… he is our master. His name is Andrew. However, I had been under the impression you already knew who he was seeing as he seemed to recognize you.”

The red-head looked from the demon to the guy on the floor, her expression looking shocked.

“Wait, this guy knows who I am? FINALLY! I was waiting for someone to come along who knew me!”

Both Labareda and Unoma looked at the girl, confused as confusing could be. The girl looked between the both of them before she realized how she must have sounded just now.

“Sorry… you wouldn’t know anything about my current situation. A few days ago, I woke up in this… maze of sorts and have been wandering around with no memory of who I am or even how I got here. It’s been one insane thing after another down here in this pit, but if fighting off all those pigs and lizard things got me to this point, then I’ll say it was worth it in the end… assuming… Andrew did you call him? Assuming he wakes up soon…”

Both of the familiars looked back to there master, who had started to stir. Unoma smiled to herself before she looked back to the red-headed twin tail.

“I guess you don’t have to wait for very long then. However, before you pester our master, please wait a moment so that we can make sure he’s alright.”

The girl nodded her head. She wasn’t going to waste a chance to find out something about herself because she was impatient. Andrew, for his part, let out a groan. His mind was tearing itself apart with the size of his current migraine, and his body felt very painful. It took him a moment of recovery, but he suddenly remembered that he had been being strangled to death by an orc. Shooting his eyes up, Andrew looked around only to see that said orc was dead some ten or so feet away. The condition of the corpse left him feeling ill, but he didn’t look at it for very long as Unoma’s very generous bust filled his view a moment later. Looking up, he saw that the woman was giving him a gentle smile before she reached down and cupped his face in her hands.

“Glad to see your alright master. You worried me for a moment there.”

Confused, Andrew worked himself back up into a sitting position, his head looking between Unoma and Labareda.

“What… happened exactly?”

Labareda and Unoma looked to each other, some looks passing between them before they looked back to their master.

“We’ll explain it to you later… right now though, we have someone who has some questions for you, and hopefully in answering hers, ours will be as well.”

They both looked to the redhead, the girl finally getting the okay to go ahead. The twin-tail licked her lips nervously, not sure exactly how to start off this conversation. However, she didn’t need to. Andrew looked back to her before he lit up in recognition.

“Ah, glad to see your doing well Luna… or would you prefer to be called Serena?”

The girl blinked in surprise, the second name sounding familiar to her, though the first also sounded vaguely familiar. Leaving her mouth open in some surprise for a moment longer, Serena swallowed before she walked a little closer to him.

“So… do you know who I am? Do you and I know each other?”

Blinking in some confusion, Andrew could only stupidly open his mouth.

“Huh?”

Labareda cleared her throat, getting both of their attention.

“It turns out this girl… or Serena as you called her, has no memories of who she is, and judging from other things about our conversation, anything about her from before she woke up here.”

Andrew looked to his familiar for a moment before he looked to Serena. She looked hopeful by far, as if this was the first drop of water she had managed to get after weeks of dying from thirst. However, there was no easy way for him to straight up tell her that she was a fictional character, or that the only way he knew about her was because he had played her in a game. Feeling somewhat nervous, Andrew opted to try to divert the situation until he could come up with something.

“Huh… I see… Well… that’s not gonna be easy to explain, and it’ll probably take a while… so before we do that, how about we get out of this… situation?”

The girls all looked at what he was talking about, Andrews eyes looking at the corpses of orcs everywhere. For a moment, nobody said anything, but eventually, Unoma was the first to speak.

“I have to agree with our Dear Master. Having any kind of conversation this close to burnt corpses is rather… unpleasant.”

Labareda looked between the two of them before she shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t see anything wrong with having a conversation next to a burning corpse… but I’ll go with the master on this one.”

Serena looked as if she would agree with Labareda, but even she was starting to notice the smell of the charred corpses.

“Ugh… fine. I’ll follow you guys.”

Letting out an internal sigh of relief, Andrew felt he had bought himself more time to try to come up with a plausible excuse. Even then, the fact that Serena from fire emblem was right here next to him made him feel like a nerd all over again. However, despite how tattered she looked, he still looked as good as she did as a game sprite, even more so since she was flesh and blood at this point. However, one odd thing about her ensemble bugged him. It was the fact that the sword she had was unusual to say the least. Even more so since she had two of them. They looked like a pair of katanas, but at the same time, they almost looked… organic. They where a mixture of red and black, but looked like some kind of eldritch mixture of metal and monster. It was beyond odd, but Andrew felt that those questions should be saved for later, until then, he was going to nap when they took a break. Unknown to him, the swords on Serena’s waist seemed to peek an eye open at the pommel, the red eyes zeroing in on him, as if finally having found a target.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Andrew looked down at the meat in his hand, his face screwed up in some levels of discomfort as he turned it over a few times in his hands. Labareda looked over to him, stuffing a large helping of meat in her mouth.

"Wassa maher?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to finish chewing before you start talking?"

Labareda contemplated that for a moment before she swallowed the thing whole, though Andrew knew she was capable of stuffing even more down her throat then that small sum of meat. Shaking his head to dispel his wandering mind, Andrew looked back to his first familiar when she started speaking again.

"I apologize master… anyway, I was asking if something was the matter with the food?"

Andrew turned his attention back to the hunk of meat in his hands. Then he turned his attention to the thing it happened to come from. The orcs the three girls had killed almost an hour ago. He had some reservations about eating something that seemed to be sentient, but at the same time, when Labareda had been cooking it; it had smelled like actual pork. Not that surprising considering what orcs where modeled after. It had smelled delicious, and he had been looking forward to it when he had smelled it. However, now he had reservations.

"No… nothings wrong with the food itself… I just… just have some problems with eating something that had been sentient not but an hour ago."

Looking around, Andrew saw that he was the only one who had this problem, Unoma eating her own small amount of meat, and Labareda and Serena pigging out on large hunks of leg. Serena swallowed what was in her mouth before she turned her attention to Andrew.

"Are you an idiot or something? Only fools don't eat good food given to them, no matter where it came from. Besides, those things are hardly sentient. All they do is eat, sleep, and fuck any female they come into contact with to bolster their numbers. I should know, they've tried to rape me a number of times since I've been down here… and I've happened upon a few of the unlucky girls who got caught by those things…"

Serena stopped for a second, as if remembering something painful before she shook her head and looked back to Andrew.

"Point is, they don't deserve a second thought. End of story."

Unoma nodded her head at Serena before she turned her attention to Andrew.

"She's right Dear Master. Orcs don't have the capacity for a higher range of thought, only following the basest of instincts. So please, eat up. I guarantee that despite how it may look, Serena cooked it to the point of being quite palatable."

The twin tail looked to Unoma, not sure if the witch was complimenting her or making fun of her. However, she wasn't going to give it much more thought before she looked to Andrew, a familiar look on her face… to him at least.

"So, we've been eating and minding each other for a while now, but I think it's time we started actually getting questions answered."

Andrew was about to take a bite out of the food he had in his hands, his mental fortitude having finally gathered enough to try, but he put it down when he saw that Serena was being serious. She obviously didn't want to wait around for answers anymore.

"*Sigh*… alright then. I guess it is time to go ahead and answer your questions… so, you wanted to know what the relationship is between you and myself right?"

"Of course. That's what I've been waiting for after all."

"Alright alright… well, let me go ahead and point out, you and I don't know each other personally. However, I happen to know of you. And before you ask, no, I'm not important enough to be well known. Just a random guy you would meet anywhere."

"Alright… so I'm well known… what for?"

For the next few minutes, Andrew tried his best to explain to Serena about her exploits in the games she came from, trying his best to make it seem like she came from a legend rather then a video game, though he was sure she wouldn't even know what a video game even was. Eventually, the explanation came to an end with Serena deep in thought. Andrew wasn't sure what next to say at this point, not being very good at the whole 'starting conversation' thing. However Serena let out a loud sigh before she turned back to him.

"Alright… so that's the gist of it then… It doesn't sound like your lying to me, and I get the feeling a lot of what your telling me is true. It also explains how I can handle myself in a fight so well despite not having any memory of it. Thanks for letting me know."

Serena smiled at him in thanks, causing Andrew to blush a little bit, an expression not missed by both of his familiars. Unoma and Labareda smiled to each other before the dark mage spoke up first.

"So… Serena… what's your plan from here on out?"

Looking over at Unoma, Serena couldn't help but cock her head in confusion.

"My plan?"

Labareda spoke up next.

"Yes, you found out what you wanted, so what's your plan from here on out?"

For a moment, Serena could only blink before the full effect of the question seemed to hit her.

"That's… a very good question actually… I had only wanted to find out who I was originally, but now that I have an idea… I don't really know?"

Unoma spoke up after that, seeing the girls stacked confusion and unrest.

"Then how about your travel with us for the time being? We could use someone else to help us in the event of another fight like this, not having a dedicated swordsman showed us we need a little more muscle. You also won't have to travel the labyrinth alone anymore since we happen to be on our way out. I also think our master would feel better if you came with us as well, his adoration for you being rather evident in his recounting of you."

Andrew looked at Unoma for a moment, a blush coming over his face.

"I wasn't 'adoring' her or anything. I just got a little excited telling her was all okay?"

Letting out a sigh, Andrew turned his attention back to Serena.

"Silly dialogue aside… we do happen to be on our way out. If you wanna come along, we won't complain about it, plus I think it would be safer for everyone if we all traveled in a larger group."

Serena looked from Andrew, to the other two, her mind quickly coming to a conclusion about all of this.

"That's fine. I'll travel with you guys until we get out. Plus, seeing how you acted in the fight earlier, you need all the protection you can get. And if your stories are true, then I can help out as a mercenary of sorts."

"Great!"

Andrew said a little more excitedly then he had meant to, a fact not missed by his two familiars. Reigning himself in with a cough, Andrew looked to Serena's hips, more specifically, to the odd katana's she had with her.

"By the way Serena… What's up with those weapons of yours?"

"Ah, These?"

Serena drew her attention to the weapons before she gripped the hilt of one of them confidently.

"I don't know what they are, but I found them while I was down here when my original sword broke in the jaws of some pig thing. I had to run for hours to escape that. Thankfully I found these in a room I stumbled across. At first, I thought they where the ugliest things I had ever seen, but when I picked them up, I was filled with a great deal of power unlike anything I had felt before. I also seemed to know how to use two of them at the same time, though I'm not sure if that was something I knew how to do or if the weapon filled me with that knowledge. Thankfully I found them when I did cause that pig thing came back and tried to eat me again. I cut it right in half with a single swing with this thing."

Serena looked rather pleased with herself, However, Andrew took a second look at them, there ominous look giving him bad vibes.

"You sure they weren't cursed or something?"

Serena simply shook her head.

"I have no idea, but for the past few days I haven't felt anything wrong. If anything, I may simply be getting stronger. Though don't get me wrong, I have tried to use other weapons I've found down here, but they are too weak and they break easily, or I can't use them due to how badly they're made. These have worked well enough, so don't worry about it… also, while where on the subject of things we each have… what was with those hands you summoned earlier?"

Andrew blinked in confusion for a moment, not sure what she was talking about.

"I'm sorry… what?"

"The hands, the things that crushed the pig guy earlier. When you started to go limp, those hands came out of nowhere and crushed it to death."

Andrew was genuinely confused at this point. Before he could press any further about it though, Unoma spoke up.

"How about we save that for a little bit later Dear master."

Andrew turned to Unoma, curious why she wanted to put it off so suddenly.

"Why is that?"

Unoma didn't answer immediately, but Labareda did.

"Because we need to try to figure it out a little bit more. Unoma and I don't want to give you any false information in regards to what we saw, and we think we need to debate it a little bit more before we fill you in on anything. We swear it isn't a problem for you right now though, but it'll only stay that way so long as you don't try to run off and do what you did earlier."

Andrew felt his gut sink a little at the mention of his previous action, though he was still curious about what they where talking about. However, he wasn't going to question it any further for now, it not being that important.

"Alright then. I'll wait for your answers then."

Both of the familiars couldn't help but grin at him. Serena noticed the amount of trust going on here, and felt that she may have also had the same such trust with others… or so she hoped. However, she couldn't help but notice a thing or two about the two familiars, Labareda in particular.

"So… it's not like I was looking or anything, and personally, it might not be any of my business… but why is she pretty much naked?!"

Andrew turned his attention to Labareda, having become so used to her nudity over the past few weeks that it hadn't bugged him… or it hadn't until he remembered that he had had sex with that very body not but a few hours ago. Suddenly, his mind replaying her soft body in contact with his caused his cheeks to flush and his gaze to veer away to Unoma. However, Serena had something to say about her as well, only she punctuated it with her gloved hand pointing at her, a blush rising on her face.

"And she might as well not be wearing anything at all with the way that loose rag is working! Seriously, what is with you guys! The only one decently dressed is the guy!"

Andrew could only laugh at her nervously, not having anything he could say in counter. Unoma and Labareda came to his rescue a moment later.

"I fail to see how it's that big a problem. The only ones who'll be seeing us are monsters, you, and our Dear Master. Monster die easily enough; Dear Master has seen us like this for several days already… so the only one who would be bothered by it is you."

Labareda could only grin at Serena.

"Do our bodies cause you some… discomfort? Most of us here are woman after all, and both of the familiars are fine with the way things are. Unless you have other reasons to be disturbed by this?"

Serena didn't miss the lewd grin on Labaredas face, her own growing hot in both anger and embarrassment.

"Oh shut it! All I'm saying is that it's indecent. You both should cover yourselves more if only due to the fact that you never know who or what you'll run into down here!"

Serena cut the conversation at that point, her mind unable to keep the argument up at that point. Andrew let out a small chuckle at everything that was going on. However, he quickly remembered that he needed to get something in his stomach. A little while later and everyone started to settle down for some rest. Labareda said she would keep watch in the event of anymore orcs, though Andrew knew she hardly needed sleep to begin with due to the fact that she could sustain herself on magic alone. Eventually, everyone went to sleep with Labareda keeping watch for a little while before she set some makeshift wards around the area and came back to rest next to Andrew. Said male was woken up a little bit later when he felt the pressure of something on him waking him up, Andrew being a very light sleeper. When he opened his eyes, he was almost surprised to see Unoma laying across him, her bust laying across his upper body. Almost was the key word here. What was unusual about the situation however was the fact that she had undone his pants and was using one hand to stroke his already enlarged member. A small grunt from him caused her to look up at him, though her hand never stopped pumping his dick.

"Ah, Dear Master, I was starting to wonder if I needed to try harder to get you up."

Andrew, finding it kinda hard to think straight with her hand pleasuring him, shook his head to momentarily dispel his mind from the touch.

"Unoma… what are you doing."

It wasn't a question, but a demand, albeit a weak one considering she never let up on her ministrations.

"Ara? I thought it would be obvious considering the situation, but if you want me to explain…"

Unoma moved her face closer to his before she lay her head down on his chest, a grin filled with lewd intentions as her eyes seemed to gleam at him in mirth.

"I'm getting you ready Dear Master."

Andrew wasn't stupid enough to ask her 'for what' considering what she was doing to his groin, but he was still curious about her intentions.

"Okay… I kinda see what you want to happen, but I'm curious as to why exactly."

Unoma moved herself even closer to his face, almost too close for his taste since all he would have to do was move his head and he could touch her nose with his chin.

"Easy, I want you to fill me with Mana the same way you did with Lab."

"I…*grunt* I hardly think that with your amount of power you would need a refill so quickly."

Andrew was trying his hardest to keep a neutral face, but her hand began to gyrate as she stroked him, the feeling changing pace between slow and quick, but never too fast for his body to take. She only looked up at him with a mock pout on her face.

"Now that's not fair master. I know Labareda was rather mana deprived, but even if I'm still chock full of it doesn't mean I'm not jealous of how you ravaged her little pussy the way you did. You think that after watching you two that I wouldn't want a turn?"

Andrew let out a sigh, but it turned into another groan as she started to pump just the head of his dick, the growing sensitivity causing her hand to feel even more amazing then it did a minute ago. Bringing himself back under reign, Andrew sat himself up, Unoma falling a little off to the way side, directly stopping her hand from continuing. However, she had fallen in a way that left her looking sensual, her breasts hidden behind her hair with just the torn cloth she wore doing hardly anything to hide her uncovered pussy. She hadn't even bothered to wear underwear in her long time down here. Letting out a low sigh, Andrew looked down at her before he looked at the other two of his party. Mentally, he wasn't going to say no to her, hell, she had done a decent enough job of getting him up, so he might as well as take advantage of it. His concern was for Labareda and Serena though… actually, it was more for Serena really. Labareda probably would just watch on waiting for her turn, but he had no doubt that the red-haired twintail would say something about it. A moment later though and saw something thin seem to appear in the air between him and the other two. Looking back, he saw that Unoma had her hand up and that it was losing it's glow.

"Don't worry, I just used a spell that will muffle the sounds we make. You don't have to worry about waking them up. And now that that is taken care of…"

Unoma didn't say anything else after that. A moment later and she rolled onto her back and spread her legs wide. Andrew let out a low whistle, his dick suddenly throbbing as the sight of Unoma's glistening snatch. She didn't do him any favors when she reached down and spread herself wide, a look of lustful want on her face as she bit her lower lip in anticipation. Andrew didn't wait a second longer before he lined himself up with her, the tip of his dick just barely touching her lower lips. The hot wetness of that alone caused him to mentally throw his reasoning to the side, a wild beast of lust taking its place before he drove himself into her without a second though. Unoma clenched up at Andrews full length in her so suddenly, her mouth letting out a shout of surprise before it was replaced with a moan filled with inner pleasure. Andrew didn't even bother with going slow and started to pump into her, his lower half craving to drive itself into her womb. Unoma didn't resist anything he was doing, instead letting out moans and screams laced with all the desire she was currently feeling, her body almost scarping across the floor with how hard he was fucking her. He wasn't done yet though; Andrews eyes having watched her massive tits swaying back and forth each time he shoved himself into her. Not losing any of his speed, Andrew roughly grabbed her breasts and began to fondle and squeeze them. At that, Unoma showed no restraint in her lust and begged him to treat her more roughly, the assault on both her pussy and breasts too much for her especially after having no sexual contact for almost twelve hundred years. However, it didn't last very long. A few minutes later of this rough fucking and Andrew felt himself ready to blow his load right inside her.

Unoma could tell both from the feeling of emotions washing through her along with the way Andrews breathing started increasing that he was ready to come. IN the heat of the moment, Unoma wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him close, forcing him to drive into her womb as far as he could go. Andrew was sure he felt the tip of his prick pierce another set of lips, but it felt so good for him that his dick blew everything it had right then and there. Unoma felt white hot seed fill her body, the feeling of being filled up causing her to clench and achieve her own orgasm. For several tens of seconds, this is all either of them did, but Andrew was the first to stop, his body spent from that little bout of physical exertion. Andrew managed to sit himself back up and pulled out of Unoma, the sucking feeling on his dick telling him that she still wanted him inside of her. However, he was curious when he saw that despite pulling out, his cum didn't seem to flow out. He was too tired to think about it though and simply lay himself down next to her, wrapping an arm over her shoulders and pulling her in close. Though she was still enjoying her own after glow, she was surprised to see him pull her close, but she didn't say anything, instead opting to snuggle close. Andrew let out a small sigh before he looked to her.

"So… feeling recharged yet?"

"More than enough Dear Master…"

Unoma simply snuggle closer, Andrew obliging her by letting her rest her head on his collarbone.

"This is gonna be a frequent thing with you two isn't it."

It wasn't a question, but a statement, one that made his familiar laugh to herself.

"We will need to get mana one way or another, so I see it as being something that will happen often… but after that, you should get some more rest master. We have more distance to cover and I have no doubt myself and Lab will be needing to do this almost daily."

Andrew let out a small groan, though he wasn't complaining. It didn't take either of them long to go to sleep and get some rest, though a few hours later, Serena was the first to let it be known that she wasn't happy about what no doubt happened when she was asleep (the duo still naked and the smell of sex having still been in the air). Labareda only laughed at the situation before Andrew cleaned himself up, albeit with an embarrassed look on his face. Thankfully cleanup didn't take very long with the demon girls help and the group eventually got itself under way. For the next few hours or so, everything remained rather calm and quiet, the occasional bout with some creature breaking the boring march However, where Andrew was used to saying nothing for hours on end and Labareda and Unoma content enough with the silence, Serena found that since she had company with her, she wanted some noise, preferably in the form of conversation. However, several hours of none of this finally caused her to lose her patience.

"AGH! Enough of this!"

Andrew jumped at the sudden shout, but he only remained startled for a moment before he turned his attention to Serena.

"Um… enough of what?"

"This quite! Is this all you guys have been doing this whole time?! Not saying anything to each other? It's driving me crazy!"

Unoma, who was currently riding on Andrews back as per the norm, looked to the twintail and simply shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't see the issue here. We've done well enough without any kind of conversation so far."

Labareda nodded her head in agreement, though Serena looked like she was ready to pop a vein.

"It may not be an issue for you guys, but It's driving me nuts here! Say something at least! Try to make some conversation!"

Andrew let out a small chuckle internally before he looked at Serena.

"Well… I guess your right in that it's pretty boring for normal people to not say anything for so long… so why don't you go ahead and bring up a topic for us to talk about? I can't really think of anything on the spot myself… unless you two wanted to throw in some conversation topics?"

Andrew looked to both of his familiars, though neither one of them seemed to have anything themselves. Serena found that everyone was looking at her now and she suddenly realized that she was going to have to do this. Surprisingly, a blush started to form on her face before her temper seemed to elevate.

"I-Idiot! Why would I bring it up if I thought I could think of something! I'm missing memories in case you forgot!"

Andrew found himself laughing again, this time out loud, causing Serena to blush even more deeply while she bristled at him.

"Sorry sorry… I just didn't expect you to act so much like in the ga- Legends is all. I swear I'm not picking on you."

Labareda poked at Andrew, a sly grin on her face.

"Your grin says otherwise."

"Aw shaddup… Anyway, I'm sure I can think of something we can talk about… ah, I got just the thing while we walk. I happen to like a lot of kinds of food, but I think my particular favorites are things along the lines of pasta. Like noodles and the like. Something about baked noodles really makes my mouth water. How about you guys?"

Unoma thought about it for a moment before she nuzzled her face into Andrews neck.

"I like your taste Dear Master… but if we're talking about real food… I'm rather impartial to most things, though a good cake of sorts would have me put a little extra effort into everyday life."

"Like actually trying to walk?"

Unoma looked at Labareda and gave her a smug smile.

"You're just jealous because I get piggyback rides all the time."

"I won't deny that."

Andrew couldn't help but chuckle a little bit to himself before he asked his first familiar the same question.

"How about you Labareda? What kind of food do you like to eat?"

The Infernal thought about it for a moment before she answered.

"I don't really care much for human food… but if I was to say… more than likely it would be Masters mana."

Serena cocked her head in some confusion at that.

"Mana?"

Andrew saw her confusion and decided to explain a little bit.

"Right… even in your previous world you didn't have anything like this so you wouldn't know anything about this. Both Labareda and Unoma are my familiars… basically contracted magical servants. They do things for me, and in return, I provide them with Mana… which I have a lot of apparently."

Serena looked on at him for a moment before she nodded her head curiously.

"Huh… that's interesting… So how does that work? The giving mana part I mean?"

Andrew felt his cheeks go red from his memory of how that now works, but Unoma spoke up before he could try to work around it.

"Easy, he has sex with us to inject mana into our bodies."

Andrew turned his head quickly, but Serena's face started to do an imitation of an apple.

"Wh-what are you-! That explains what you were doing this morning you horny bastard!"

Andrew felt himself start to clam up at that, though Serena looked over to Labareda before she pointed at her.

"Even with a girl this small?! She practically looks like a child!"

However, Labareda got her attention by clearing her throat.

"Excuse me Serena, but I'll have you know that despite how I may look, my age far exceeds that of one so short lived as you. I'm more then old enough to be considered your senior in many regards."

However, Andrew started to speak up after that.

"it's not so much the age thing Labareda so much as the physical implication. Most humans would consider having sex with a minor disgusting. Or it did in where I came from anyway. I don't know how that holds up here."

"Actually, Dear Master, where I come from, it was morally correct to take young wives and impregnate them for the sake of survival. Many humans died young when I was still walking around on the surface. If one didn't have magical ability, then the longest most people would expect to live was only about forty and some odd years of age. Making it to sixty was normally only normal for the wealthy and nobility. Demons don't have any kind of regards for sexual maturity, so Labareda doesn't see any issues with her current body. And I doubt you do either Dear Master seeing as you didn't really hesitate when it came to 'injecting' mana into her."

Andrew could only sheepishly look away from her to Serena, who looked confused and maybe some parts… disgusted? Horrified? He couldn't tell, the mix of emotions on her face was hard to read. However, a moment later and she only shook her head and let out a defeated sigh.

"You know what? It doesn't matter to me right now. You guys are free to fuck whoever or whatever you want so long as we get out of here… but I'm going to go ahead and say this up front! Tell me before you do that kind of… stuff… alright? I don't want to be around when you do."

Andrew nodded his head.

"I got it… and sorry if this made you uncomfortable."

"Whatever…" was her only response.

A few minutes of silence passed after that, which gave Andrew time to go over the conversation they just had before he realized something.

"ah, right. Serena."

The girl looked at him in response.

"What is it?"

"You never did mention if you had a particular food you liked."

She only stared at him for a moment before an annoyed look crossed her face.

"I have no idea. I don't have a lot of memories right now remember?"

"Oh… right… Well, I guess when we get out, we should see about finding something you might enjoy."

For a moment, she wasn't sure how to respond to that, but she then faced forward saying mostly to herself.

"Sure… fine…"

Feeling a small smile grace his lips, Andrew was surprised to see both of his familiars giving him smug grins.

"And what are you two looking at?"

"Noooooothing."

They said in unison, which only made him more suspicious. Deciding to leave it at that, Andrew spent another second thinking about something said before something mentioned by Labareda crossed his mind.

"Oh yeah… by the by Labareda… when you said you liked the taste of my mana, where you referring-"

"To the taste of your semen? Why yes indeed I was."

That smug grin got wider while Serena spluttered. Andrew let out a sigh at that. After that, the group found itself falling back into silence, hoping that Serena's thirst for conversation had been slacked for a time. Thankfully, they did not encounter anything else before they decided it was time for a break. Andrew sat Unoma down before he also sat down. A moment later and Labareda sniffed at the air for a moment before she seemed to find something.

"Here we go. I'll be back shortly master, dinner isn't too far away."

"Alright then, be careful as always."

Serena looked on at the exchange in for a moment before she spoke out.

"Ah… hold up."

Curious, Labareda and Andrew looked at her.

"What is it Serena?"

"Are you going to get food?"

Labareda nodded in answer.

"Yes I am. Why do you ask?"

"Do you mind if I come with you? This is one of the reasons you brought me along right? To Help out?"

Labareda curiously cocked her head to the side before she looked to Andrew, the question etched into her irises. Andrew thought about it for a moment before he nodded.

"Sure, take her along. It never hurts to have an extra set of hands around. Though do be careful alright?"

Labareda simply nodded her head before she waved, Selena not very far behind her as the two of them went to fetch something to eat. For a little while, nothing was said between either of them, Serena simply following the demon girl further and further into the labyrinth. However, that changed when Labareda stopped suddenly and turned around to face Serena, a curious look on her face.

"Alright, we're beyond far enough for any prying ears."

"Huh?"

Labareda chuckled to herself.

"Let's not play this game alright? You obviously came out here with me for a reason. I'm just saying now's a good time to go ahead and get it out of the way is all. Or we could keep walking until we find something to kill and take it back with us, upon which you would still be filled with the growing feeling of wanting to say something to me in your gut. Then we would have to do this whole thing all over again. Trust me, better to get it off your chest now rather than wait days from now."

Serena only stared at the demon girl for a few moments longer before she let out a long sigh.

"Well… you're not wrong about that… though truth be told, what I wanted to talk to you about was the guy… or Andrew."

"Oh?"

Genuinely curious, Labareda cocked her head to the side to listen.

"Are you sure it's okay to not tell him about that hand thing? He didn't seem to be aware of what it was, and the fact that you and… Unoma… seemed rather skeptical about it tells me that it isn't anything good. I can't see a reason to not tell him, though I can tell it's not really any of my business."

Labareda blinked a few times at her words, her eyes seemingly looking through her while her mind seemed to be running what she said a few times. She then smiled at her and let out a low chuckle.

"He he… worried about him I see… It's fine to think that way. Truth be told, we should tell him about it… I mean, despite my study of the shadow labyrinth and knowing the best ways to maneuver it, I have no idea what else is down here or what may happen. He could very well get himself into a situation like the one with you again. Then it may get to a point where Myself or Unoma can't help him… but honestly though? We want to keep him away from that knowledge… we want to keep him ignorant of his power for as long as possible…"

Serena cocked her head in a puzzled fashion and was about to pose the question of why, but the expression on the demon's face stopped her. It was sad and filled with what looked to be deep regret. Serena stopped what she was going to say and simply kept quiet, Labareda continuing on.

"I appreciate your concern… it shows you have a good heart as a human… but I ask that you please stay quite about it for a time… Unoma and I will do what is right when the time comes. Until then, I simply ask that you help us protect him."

It was a request, but Serena simply nodded her head at the familiar.

"Alright… that's why I'm here anyway… I'll help you guys out while we try to get out of this creepy dungeon… though… I gotta say this though… you must really like him if your words are anything to go off of."

Labareda let a cocky smile cross her face.

"It's not just 'like' twin-tail. Familiars like myself, once bound, can't help but love our masters. It may seem like I'm being forced due to a contract, but know that I do love my master from the very depth of my demonic being. And I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. Now come on, we promised to find something to eat, and we will as quickly as we can."

For a little while, Serena followed Labareda, the demonic familiar using some unknown method to track and scout passages ahead of them. Eventually though, Labareda managed to sniff something out. It was a massive boar of some kind, it's tusks as long as an average human being and as thick as a small log. Serena had no doubt being gored by those would result in immediate death, but Labareda didn't seem to be afraid of the creature nor of it's tusks. Pulling out her scythe with a flourish of fire, the familiar jumped out of hiding, surprising the boar. It didn't take very long for her and Serena to surround and kill it, the finishing blow having been dealt by Serena when she cut it's head off with a single downward stroke. After that, it was simply a matter of dragging the carcass back to the monetary camp that they had set aside for themselves. Thankfully that didn't take very long either, and by the time they got back, Unoma had just started to get hungry. Andrew had to cock his eyebrow upward at the size of the boar they had caught though.

"Good lord… that thing is massive… Though good job you two… I take it you both stayed safe?"

Labareda gave Andrew a victory pose.

"Of course. Now that we have something to eat, let me go ahead and roast this thing for what it's worth."

Noticing that Labareda had flames in her hands, Serena spoke up.

"Ah! Hold up a second."

The rest of the party looked ot her in a confused manner.

"Whats up Serena?"

"Do you guys mind waiting a little bit? I was going to go ahead and skin it "

Andrew looked at her curiously, but he gave her a nod in confirmation.

"Sure, go ahead. We can wait an hour or two."

Serena nodded her thanks, though Andrew had to admit, watching her skin the massive boar was kinda gruesome. She seemed used to it though, but Andrew had to ask if this was something she just now remembered how to do. Her only answer had been that she 'just knew how to do it.' After about an hour of her taking her time with the boar, Serena was proud to see that she had managed to extract a good deal of the skin with little damage. After that, she had pulled the large skin away from them and had begun working on cleaning off excess fat and meat from it. Labareda got to work on cooking the headless pig, but Unoma and Andrew where left to watch Serena as she busied herself with the flayed flesh. After a little bit, Serena had to ask for Unoma to help her, but in regards of her using magic to help her treat the hide. Andrew watched on for a while longer, watching as Serena would cut some sections out of the large fur for some personal use before after a few hours, she had successfully managed to make a large hide out of some of it, while having set aside about five other cut out pieces of it for something else.

Serena wiped the sweat from her brow as she got back up, smelling slightly of animal and blood from working with the hide for so long.

"Well… not my best work, but it'll do for now."

Labareda, who had gotten done roasting the boar, looked on at all the furs curiously.

"So whats all this for?"

Serena pointed to the larger fur on the ground first.

"I decided that we needed to stop sleeping on the cold hard stone, so I opted to take the boars hide and make something of a makeshift lying rug out of it. I had Unoma help me to cure it so that it wouldn't rot on us. Normally that takes several days, but I had her speed up the process with her magic. As for the other pieces… well… I'm not done with them yet. If your willing to give me another two or so hours, I'll be able to make something out of them."

Andrew thought about it for a moment. He personally didn't have any issue with sitting for a little while longer, but he wasn't sure how his familiars might feel about it.

"Labareda, Unoma, how do you feel about waiting a little bit longer?"

Unoma, who had pretty much taken to using her master as her own personal body pillow simply yawned in disinterest.

"I don't care either which way…"

Labareda put a little more effort into her thought process before she shook her head.

"I'm fine with waiting a little bit longer."

Andrew simply huffed in amusement at both of their replies and looked back at Serena.

"Well, there's your answer."

Serena smiled at him gratefully before she quickly got back to work on the next set of skins. This left Andrew and his two familiars to wait it out for her, simply watching her as she worked. It wasn't until halfway through that Andrew realized what it was she was doing, though it became easier to figure out when she pulled out a needle and several spools of string. In less time then she had said it would Serena laid out what looked to be a long coat and some kind of barbaric looking covering.

"There we go… Labareda, these things are yours."

Serena pointed to the two coverings on the ground in front of her.

"And the long coat is for Unoma. Now you both don't have to walk around naked anymore."

Andrew was a little surprised by the offer, his mind having come to the conclusion that she was making them for herself. However, Labareda and Unoma both seemed rather shocked at first. They quickly became pleased when they saw that the work, though somewhat rough and hurried, was still quite good for the base materials she had. Labareda quickly out her own pieces on, the covering for her chest and lower half giving her a more decent appearance while also still allowing her a decent range of movement. Unomas piece was still good, but it certainly wasn't something that looked to be worn in a warm climate. She wasn't complaining though and both of them looked to her.

"Hey hey… this is a pretty nice pair of clothing your giving away… keep this up and you'll have the favor of a demon in your pocket."

Unoma put her piece on and was content with the way it made her look like a thick woolly creature, though she was in no way complaining about it.

"Thank you darling. Though I didn't need it at all because I can use magic to control my body temperature, your offer is still greatly appreciated."

Andrew smiled to himself at seeing his two familiar's reactions before he turned and gave Serena a wide smile.

"Thank you kindly for that. That saves us having to look for something immediate, and when we do finally leave we don't have to worry about the stares we would get."

Serena let a small blush creep up on her face at his praise, but his smile seemed to make her heart palpitate a little more quickly then what she was used to.

"Eh… uh… you're welcome… though don't expect me to do that all the time…"

"Got it."

Looking away curiously, Serena couldn't help but put her hand to her forehead to check and see why she suddenly had a large increase in her facial temperature. However, it was quickly forgotten as the group quickly began to feast on the boar in celebration of another day traveled… somewhat. Using the large lying rug that Serena had gone through the trouble of making, everyone found it to be a very nice alternative to the cold stone floor they had been using previously. Thankfully it had a large amount of space, just enough for four people to lay on it and still have enough room to keep comfortable. However, seeing as Labareda and Unoma liked to cuddle up to there master, this left Serena with plenty of space to call her own if she opted to sleep with the four. However, she was the first to take watch while everyone else got rest. Letting out a low sigh as she put her back to the wall across from the rest of the group, she simply watched on in silence. However, the job of watch was a boring one, and Serena found herself drawing her attention to the group again, this time to the only male. For some weird reason, she felt a little… happy around him… but it was also met with a desire to challenge him to a fight despite her knowing that she had seen him in the fight with the orcs. She wasn't sure what her mind was thinking in regards to this, but she couldn't help but be drawn to this idea more then once throughout her shift.

"Maybe he could do with some training… is that why I keep thinking about that?"

Not sure about it, Serena simply watched on for the rest of her shift, the thought simply lingering in the back of her mind the whole time…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Andrew felt his mind being encroached upon. He wasn’t sure what caused him to believe this, or even why, but he just knew that deep down, something in his mind was being intruded upon and… changed. Thinking on it for a moment, he had to admit that it was very similar to what he had felt some time ago in another dream.

However, when he recalled that particular bit, he found that he was once again looking at something similar to that nightmare. Only this time, he couldn’t help but notice that whatever it was seemed to have a more defined form… and that there where six more like it. It was then that he felt that same icy terror, only stronger, more powerful, and filled with an even greater sense of dread then he could ever recall in his life. Despite this fear though, Andrew couldn’t help but notice that he heard… voices. Each one muttering, not to him exactly, but more to each other.

**_“…eak…un…new…”_ **

****

**_“Uncertain…time…not…”_ **

****

**_“…may…concord…”_ **

****

**_“Mast… Oda…”_ **

It sounded like whispering, but he couldn’t get a good gist of what any of the conversation was even about. However, he felt something tug at his mind, something sharp. At this, he noticed that the other entities had turned their attention to him, his mind telling him that he was a very small target amongst very large predators. Before anything could happen though, he felt his mind be sharply tugged yet again. It was with that final pull on his mind that he woke from sleep, Serena hanging over him and smacking at his shoulder.

“You awake yet? Jeez! You sleep like a dead man!”

Blinking in some confusion, Andrew found that Serena had stood herself up and was looking down at him with a cross look on her face, hands on her hips and everything included with what an annoyed girl would look like. Andrew shook himself for a second before he sat up.

“Sorry… Guess I just had a bad dream was all…”

“I see… is that why you’ve been getting up later and later these past few days now?”

Andrew only shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess… I don’t really know…”

It had been a few days since Serena had made the sleeping rug for everyone, and over those past few days, nothing of note had really happened save that Andrew had been having some odd dreams of late. Things he hadn’t remembered doing or places he hadn’t seen before. He hadn’t been sure what it was about, but he had opted to keep quite about it from his familiars for the time being, not believing it to be that serious. Looking around, he noticed that Labareda and Unoma had gone missing. Oddly enough, Unoma had started to walk on her own as of late, but that may be because Serena had had enough of the witch using Andrew as a free delivery system and threatened to boot her if she didn’t start trying to walk. Unoma had been fussy at first, but her own ability to be mobile had helped improve the groups speed in trying to escape. Before he had gone to sleep, Andrew had asked Labareda how much longer they had. She had cheerfully told him that they where a little beyond the halfway mark and they should be out soon. This had greatly delighted him and earned her a kiss to the forehead, something she took with a great deal of joy… and near rape seeing as she tried to jump him. That little tussle had a taken a bit to settle down before they had gone to sleep. Looking back at Serena, who was busy rolling up the boarskin rug, Andrew stood himself up and helped her pack up the little things as best he could.

“So… did they leave to scout out the area?”

“I believe so, Labareda had left by the time I woke up and Unoma had said that she needed to check something in the area real quick. That was about an hour ago and I haven’t heard anything from either of them since then… I get the feeling they will be back soon enough though, the both of them having done what needed to be done.”

After she got done with that, she gave Andrew the rug, who tied it to the bag he had ordained to carry around since most of the party outside himself needed to focus on keeping them all safe. After that though and they both sat down and ordained to keep quite as they waited for Unoma and Labareda to come back. For a few minutes, nobody said anything, but Andrew knew that Serena wasn’t one to keep quite for long. And a few minutes after he thought that and she spoke up like he thought she would.

“So… Andrew…”

“Yes Serena?”

“I got a question for you… actually, its about me and what you know about me.”

Andrew let out a low hum for her to continue.

“Alright… so remember when you explained to me about my story? Well, I’ve been thinking on it and I couldn’t help but notice that you gave me a story about my heroic exploits… but nothing really about me. I’m actually kinda curious about the personal things in my life… you know… the experiences that make me… well, **me**.”

Andrew nodded his head in understanding, but his mental state was getting worried. Sadly, this was one of the things he was worried about when it came to explaining Serena’s story. A lot of the things involving her story could only be gained from a lot of support conversations, and even then, it was hard to glen what kind of history she had. However, that didn’t stop her from asking her questions.

“So… I’m going to start off with… do you know anything about my parents? My mom and dad? Did I have siblings?”

Andrew thought about that for a moment before he gave her a straight up honest answer from his lips.

“I’m not really sure… your stories didn’t say much about siblings or who your father was. A lot of people debated over who your real father was. I’m not even sure who it was myself. I can tell you all about your mom though. Her name was Cordelia… or Tiamo. Nobody is really sure on that one.”

Looking kinda annoyed, Serena gave him a dead stare.

“Well which is it. Cordelia or Tiamo?”

Andrew only shrugged his shoulders.

“You tell me. Which do you think feels right?”

The Twin-tail looked away from him for a moment before she closed her eyes, thinking on both names before something in her memory seemed to stir. It was the visage of a red-haired woman, looking perfect and amazing in every way to her. Feelings of pride and amazement and deep love filled Serena, but followed closely by envy, depression, and inferiority. But they seemed to be mitigated by… a man… a man who was tall and quite to her. Somewhat stern, but at the same time, gentle with her. She remembered both of them, and her heart was filled with both love and sadness at the memory. She opened her eyes, a heavy feeling in her chest.

“My moms name was… Tiamo… and my father was a man named Ronkuu… that’s who they were…”

Andrew didn’t say anything, his recognition of her depression stopping him from doing so. However, she looked over at him, something akin to sad joy in her face.

“That’s my mom and dad isn’t it? I just suddenly remembered them… my mom was a perfect woman… able to do anything she wanted… and my dad was a strong warrior…”

Andrew nodded his head.

“Yeah… that sounds about right.”

“I… I can’t seem to remember much else about them though… maybe you can fill me in on the details? Just talking with you seems to have jarred some of my memories loose. Maybe more talking will help me remember more?”

Andrew nodded his head in agreement, noting that her expression seemed to be getting better.

“Sounds like a good idea… but…if it starts to make you uncomfortable, let me know and we can stop. Okay?”

Serena nodded her head at him before she drew her legs close to her chest and put her chin on her knees. She then gave Andrew a look of complete attention, ready for him to start telling him things about herself.

Letting out a low sigh, Andrew decided to go with what he knew at that point, the mention of Lon’qu having cleared up a lot for him and allowing him to form her background better. For the next few minutes, Andrew explained what he knew of Cordelia and Lon’qu, the things they did, the lives they must have lived, all of the exploits and things he knew they had done in their lives. He kept going up until he started to explain about after her birth and he found himself stopping.

Curious, she looked at him, waiting for him to continue on. However, when he didn’t, she couldn’t help but notice that he seemed to be hesitating a lot.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… I honestly don’t think your going to like this next part…”

For a few moments, neither of them said anything. However, Serena came to his rescue when she let out a low sigh.

“I see… I’m not going to like it because something terrible happens to them doesn’t it.”

It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact. Andrew nodded his head in confirmation.

“Sorry… they die soon after your born. I don’t know how soon, but the life you live with after that is considered a hell. As far as I know, you battled day in and day out, fighting against enemy forces until many years later where you managed to find something like a magic fix-it-all. It didn’t fix ‘your’ reality, but it did save people. After that is a whole other story, but as far as I know, you did manage to find some form of happiness in the end.”

Serena looked away from Andrew, her mind deep in thought about what he had just told her. She could feel a lot of the truth in his words, and some of it did seem to unlock some memories for her. However, it still was somewhat bittersweet for her. Letting out another low sigh, she looked back at him and gave him a bright smile.

“Well… it may not have all been happy and cheerful, but I’m still happy I got to learn more about myself and the people I cared about… though I am a little curious about something. Did I ever get a lover or boyfriend? It sounds like I went my whole life loveless or something.”

“I didn’t see a ring on your finger, so that would be a no.”

He said without hesitation. Serena looked at her hand and took her gauntlets off. Sure enough she had no rings on her fingers. She laughed a little to herself before she put her gauntlets back on.

“Well, that kinda sucks. But oh well. Are you thirsty? You’ve been talking for a while now, I’m sure you have to be parched.”

Feeling that she may be right, Andrew nodded his head at her before she handed him a water skin. He gratefully took a few swallows out of it before he handed it back to her, Serena’s expression one filled with questions.

“So… you know a lot about me and my life… how about you tell me a little bit about yourself for once. It’s not fair if I’m the only open book in the group ya know.”

Andrew blinked in surprise a few times before her words finally hit home with him.

“Me? I’m not interesting in the least. Why would you want to know about me?”

Serena simply shrugged her shoulders at him.

“I don’t know. Just general curiosity. Though I say just go ahead and try anyway. I’m not exactly high on the memories in this group, so who knows. Your life story might be the next best thing I have to entertainment for a while.”

Andrew squinted his eyes at her in thought.

“Not sure if that’s a complement or if your making fun of me…”

The twin tail let out another sigh.

“Just take it as a complement and start spilling.”

“Alright alright don’t get your hair in a twist… hum… how best to begin…”

Andrew put his hand to his chin and began to stroke in thought. Serena watched him for a moment, finding it kinda charming how he did it, but then immediately wondered why she thought that in the first place. Andrew speaking up drew her attention back to him though.

“Well… I don’t have much to say save that I’m a very average person. I did have decent grades in studies and whatnot, but a lot of my time was spent being rather leisure. I didn’t want for much growing up, being content with the things in my life until I hit middle school. Then all the fun stuff in my life started to hit rock bottom when I got older. Particularly around the time my father…”

Andrew stopped for a second, his mind wandering for a moment as he tried to form the words he wanted to say. It took him a moment, and Serena found it curious that he would stop so suddenly, but he continued, though a little more hesitantly then before.

“After my father… got sick. After that it kinda just led from one thing to another until eventually I found myself in a bad situation that could have landed me in serious trouble. Thankfully I had people looking out for me… but I personally still needed to clean myself up. So I joined what you would consider the army… well, it’s the Air Force, but that wouldn’t make any sense to you… for a few months I went through boot camp before I got sent to do my actual job. But during the middle of that, I ended up finding myself here. And that’s me in a nutshell.”

Serena, who had been listening intently, nodded her head before she crossed her legs.

“I see… I feel like you left a lot out though.”

“Well obviously I had a reason.”

“I get that you moron. I was just pointing it out. You obviously don’t want to tell me about certain things. That’s fine. But I can see you weren’t joking about being uninteresting.”

Andrew felt himself grumble internally at that, but he couldn’t refute her since it was true. Bringing his attention to the surrounding area, Andrew leaned back against the wall and found himself looking out for both Unoma and Labareda.

“They sure have been gone a while…”

“No joke. I thought they would have been back by now. What are they doing exact-”

She didn’t finish her statement as a moment later, the both of them heard the sound of hooves on stone. Serena lit up at that.

“Ah, there’s one of them at least.”

Andrew, however, looked somewhat confused.

“… Maybe… but… I don’t recall her ever sounding quite that heavy before… and… I get the feeling she’s still not that close to us.”

Curious, Serena looked at Andrew before she brought her attention back to the direction of the hooves. However, upon listening closely, she heard not the sound of heavier steps, but the sound of heavier and more guttural breathing. It was at that point that her instinct told her that whatever this was, it wasn’t good. She quickly got to her feet and drew one of her swords.

“Stay close to me Andrew.”

Getting to his feet, he did just that. For a few tense moments, neither one of them could see what it was that was making that noise. That changed when a shape took form further down the hall. It was massive, standing well above ten feet tall and thick with muscles. It had bovine features mixed with those of a man, the most easily noticeable being the bull head on its neck. It wore a very dirty and tattered loin cloth, but in its right hand it had a large sword that would have been too heavy and massive for an average man to use. Serena had no idea what this thing could possibly be, but Andrew instantly recognized it.

“That’s a minotaur.” 

“A what?”

“Put the worst aspects of the strongest man ever with the worst aspects of a massive roid-raged bull. That’s a minotaur.”

“Okay… sounds bad enough... but what the hell does Roid-raged mean?”

“It means it’s really fucking strong.”

Serena could only blink a few times before she let a low sigh out from her mouth followed by a very sarcastically uttered word.

“Greeeeeeeeeeat.”

The creature, obviously having heard them, turned its attention to them and began to sniff them out. Andrew wasn’t sure why that was, but if he had to hazard a guess, it would probably be because it had terrible eyesight. He could only think on that for a few more moments before the thing let out a very unbull-like roar, sounding far more like some kind of demon. Andrew threw his hands over his ears to save his eardrums, but Serena simply got into a battle-ready stance with her katana. A moment later and the minotaur rushed forward madly, it’s blade swinging wildly as it skittered across the ground with the horrid noise of steel on stone. Serene kicked Andrew out of the way before she dodged along with him. The minotaur savagely struck out where they had been previously, hitting nothing but empty air. It then turned to where they were and swung again, Serena dodging out of the way while using Andrew as a sturdy springboard to kick him out of the way of the blade as it sang between them. Serena jumped over the behemoth blade and swung her katana downward at the creature’s head. The minotaur, not having been caught unaware, jerked its head to the side to avoid the blow before launching its balled fist directly at the girl. The red head pulled her sword back in enough time to use the flat of the blade as a kind of make-shift shield. However, she was airborne, and thus was sent flying down the hall. Serena tumbled over herself a few times but managed to use the roll to get to her feet and turn herself around. The beast followed after her, leaving Andrew alone as he got himself back to his feet. It took him a second, but Andrew was back up in enough time to witness as Serena dodged out of the way of another downward strike with a pirouette. Andrew watched on for a few more moments longer, this back and forth of swinging and dodging looking almost like some kind of dance. Serena would take glancing blows against the Minotaur, seemingly going for the ability to stay mobile over dealing heavy damage. However, her method seemed to be bearing fruit, as the creature was soon covered in small bleeding lacerations.

Andrew had to admit that she was making this look easy, but even he could tell that though the minotaur was cut all over, it didn’t seem to be deterred by her small actions. In fact, it seemed rather enraged by the fact that it couldn’t hit her. With another bellow of fury, it increased its efforts to smash her into the ground. This only prompted Serena to continue maneuvering around the bull creature, her feet and blade moving faster then Andrews eye could currently follow. One thing about her caught his eye though, and that was the fact that despite her many dodges, she could have very easily closed the distance between herself and the minotaur. Serena had proven her speed was far superior to its own. But oddly enough, Andrew took note of a grin on her face. It took him a moment to notice that it was a twisted smile, one filled with the joy of malice, and each time she would trace her blades arc across the bull’s skin, she only seemed to grow more delighted.

This proved to be her undoing.

Cutting another small nick into it’s flesh as she jumped past, Serena failed to take note that the minotaur also had a tail. One would think that a long cow tail wouldn’t be much to worry about, that it might in fact be a weakness. But Serena had never fought with a minotaur and was not thinking straight at the moment. The moment she moved past the leg, she did not notice the tail of the beast as it came up and smacked her right in the face. It didn’t have enough power to truly hurt her, but it had come from her blind spot, and the sudden shock of it stopped her in her tracks. Something the man-bull took quick advantage of as he used its free hand to grab her by the head and clutch painfully.

“ARGH!”

Serena could only shout in pain as it tried to squeeze her head like a tomato, but her quick reflexes allowed her to bring her blade up and attempt to stab the beast. She did not expect to meet with another blade in that encounter and was stunned when she felt her blade, along with another, collide and fall right out of her hand due to the sheer power behind it. She could tell she badly messed up, and when the other hand of the minotaur clasped around her neck, she found that she may be in some serious trouble. However, things turned weird when it removed its hand from her head, but only moved it to the side of her body. She was only confused by this for a moment longer before she got a good look at the taurs front body and saw that the loincloth was doing very little to hide a quickly growing something. That something turning out to be the minotaur’s large bovine dick. Serena felt her breath intake sharply as she suddenly realized what the thing seemed to want to do.

“Let go of me you disgusting fucker!”

Though her upper body was restrained, Serena still had usage of her legs and savagely kicked out. She missed her initial target and instead hit the beats in the midriff. But for all the good it did, she might as well have tried to kick the wall, her foot hitting the solid abs of a creature much stronger and sturdier then her. The kick did do something though. It only made the Minotaur aware that it was somewhat vulnerable in this position and quickly turned her around and lifted her up. It quickly brought her close to it’s body, the engorged dick sliding between thighs and out from the front.

Serena could easily figure out what it was trying to do and was desperately thrashing about to get away, the feeling of the creatures enlarged member making her feel several levels of revolt, and some levels of fear.

“Let me go! I SAID LET GO YOU DISGUSTING SHIT!”

The situation only got worse at it began to use her thighs for intercrural, the thing letting out deep grunts as it seemed to be trying to figure out how to get past her armor while not wanting to wait to relive its inner desires.

Serena could only feel shame and fury at her inability to do anything but seemingly take it, her desperate attempts to free herself proving non-existent. IN this situation, she couldn’t help but feel fear at her imminent rape, the thing beginning to get the hang of how her armor worked and was slowly working its way to her pussy. This would have been a hopeless situation, if she had been alone. However, both she and the minotaur had forgotten that there had been one other person. The sudden sound of something sinking into flesh caused Serena to flinch, but not as bad as when the beast howled in pure fury and agony as it dropped her. Not wasting a second, the twintail jumped back to her feet and turned around to get a look at her would be rapist. She was surprised to see that her sword, something that had previously been on the ground, was currently imbedded into it’s leg, the minotaur having dropped to its knee in agony. What was more surprising to her was that Andrew was behind it holding the handle to said blade, looking like he was gonna be ill, but also looking several levels of _furious_.

“I am not about to fucking let **you** have your way while I’m standing right here you overgrown piece of angus!”

Andrew savagely yanked the blade back out of the Minotaur’s leg only to drive it right into the beasts back, where the blade sprouted in a crimson blossom from it’s torso. The Minotaur could only scream in pain, it’s massive hands clawing at the blade in it’s chest. The Creature was stupid enough to actually grab the blade and try to yank it out from the font, not realizing that the guard prevented it from going clean through. The Minotaur could only gurgle in pain in fury, it’s blood running down it’s chest and back before it fell to the floor, the last of it’s breaths coming out in a long death rattle. Andrew could only look down at the beast, the blade having left his hand when the minotaur fell, his eyes still full of anger. Serena, not used to seeing him lose his temper like that, was even more surprised to see something like gray mist forming behind him. She remembered that this mist was what summoned those massive hands some days ago. Not sure what was going to happen, the fiery redhead called out to him.

“Andrew!”

Aforementioned male jumped badly with her shout, but upon seeing her looking somewhat alright, he visibly relaxed. Serena was quick to note that as soon as his anger had dropped, the mist quickly dissipated.

“Sorry about that… are you okay Serena?”

The girl, still somewhat cautious about what had just happened, nodded her head.

“For the most part…”

However, a moment later and she felt the strength leave her body, as if a wound coil just released all of it’s tension. Feeling somewhat weakened, Serena slowly sat herself down and placed her back against the wall with a long sigh. Andrew, a little worried, walked up in front of her and took a knee, some worry in his face.

“You sure you’re okay?”

Letting out an annoyed huff, Serena looked Andrew straight in the face.

“I’m fine _dad,_ just went at it a little harder then I should have was all.”

Letting a grin cross his face, Andrew stood up briefly only to move right next to Serena on the wall and sit down next to her.

“Well, if your being that plucky, then I suppose your fine. Humor me though as I think I’ll sit here next to you and make sure you’re okay for the next few minutes.”

The twin-tail couldn’t deter him and felt that it would be pointless to try, but she still felt the need to complain at him about his overprotectiveness.

“Do you always worry like that? Or am I just a special case for it. You don’t seem that worried about Labareda and Unoma right now.”

“Because unlike you Serena, _we_ are not squishy humans.”

Both Serena and Andrew turned to the side to see that Labareda was walking past the bulk of the minotaur with Unoma hovering right next to her, a look of some concern on the Dark Witch’s face when she looked at the Minotaur briefly and then back to the two currently seated on the floor.

“Are you both okay?”

Andrew shrugged his shoulders as he answered.

“I’m fine. Serena kept me safe… though our twin-tail seems to have worn herself out.”

“I’m _Fine_! Just taking a rest is all… geez…”

Labareda looked at the girl with a semi-worried look on her face before she let out a small huff in acceptance.

“Alright then… also. Sorry. This bastard got away from me when I encountered a group of them further up the passage. I killed a good majority of them, but the one you got had fled while I was cutting his buddies down. Turns out they can be pretty fast when they fear for their lives.”

As if to punctuate her point, Labareda kicked the minotaur in the arm, her amazing strength showing through when the creature skidded across the floor with ease at her anger. Andrew let out a sound.

“Ah… don’t kick it to far away, I need to get Serenas sword out of it.”

Unoma, as if having predicted this, held up the blade in question.

“Don’t worry, I already got it… here you go Dear Master.”

Andrew quickly got up and gently took it from her before he brought it back to Serena.

“Here you go… also… sorry about using it. I didn’t know if you would be okay with me touching it, but I couldn’t really think about that kind of thing at the time.”

Serena looked at him for a moment, genuinely surprised that he would be perturbed about him touching something of hers.

“It’s fine, you did the right thing. I’m not going to complain if you have to pick up a discarded weapon to save your life…”

However, she looked away for a moment, a little blush on her face as she seemed to mutter something under her breath.

“Or mine… thanks for saving me…”

Andrew, not having heard that, looked at her curiously.

“Sorry, what was that last bit? My hearing isn’t that great.”

For some reason, Serena found that she didn’t want to say it a second time, though she was kinda frustrated that he hadn’t heard her. Oddly enough, she was also kinda relived. All this confusion of her emotional state simply caused her to look back up at him with a blush on her face before she shot to her feet and took the weapon right out of his hands before she sheathed it.

“Nothing! Don’t worry about it! And where the hell have you two been this whole time huh?”

Labareda and Unoma, who had been grinning at her with smug expression found her question needed answering and thus they opted to do as such with Unoma starting off.

“Well, as Lab was saying. She had been scouting out the area and taking care of things that were close enough to endanger us. I, on the hand, have been looking around the area for other oddities. You will also be pleased to note that I happened to find a shortcut.”

Labareda brought her attention back to Unoma, a clear look of irritation in her eyes. Unoma simply looked on at her fellow familiar, a look of some smug cunning on her face.

“Don’t give me that look. We both agreed to this.”

“We _agreed_ that we would debate it a little more before you brought it up to the master.”

“Ara?”

Unoma looked mockingly surprised at her suggestion.

“I’m sorry, I thought you had meant we should debate it as a whole group. Not just between you and I.”

Both Andrew and Serena looked to each other in some form of clarification of what they where on about. Seeing as they weren’t getting answers out of each other, Andrew opted to look to the both of them and pose his internal question.

“What are you two talking about and what does it have to do with this shortcut you mentioned?”

Turning her attention to her master, Labareda ran a paw through her hair in thought. For a moment, she looked as if she was thinking about what should be said, but she quickly seemed to come to a conclusion on what best to be said.

“Very well… since you ask… Unoma has indeed found a shortcut that, if we take, will practically put is three days from the entrance.”

Andrew blinked a few times, his mind working out what she just said. It didn’t take him very long to do that though, and he nodded his head.

“Alright… So this shortcut will put us three days from the entrance… I’m going to go ahead and ask. What is the catch for something like this. Cause I get the feeling you never mentioned it for a reason.”

Labareda only smiled triumphantly at Unoma before she turned her attention back to her.

“So happy to see that you have sense master. The reason I never brought it up is because it’s dangerous. After so many years of not being used, the chances of it even being usable are next to none.”

Unoma piped in at that.

“Next to none doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. How much longer do we have to be down here? Another few weeks? We can’t guarantee something won’t happen to our master or anybody else in our party if we stay down here for much longer. Take the incident with this minotaur for example. You and I weren’t here to keep them safe, and it looks like things might have turned out badly if it had gone wrong. Am I correct on this Dear master?”

Andrew didn’t say anything, but his look told the group that that would have been the case. Score a triumphant smile from Unoma.

“The longer we stay down here, the more risk we run of encountering something we won’t be able to react to. I don’t know about you Labareda, but my priority is to see our Master out of here safe and sound. So what if it might or might not be dangerous? Anything worth doing has some risk or effort involved with it.”

Labareda gave her compatriot a cross look at that.

“I don’t want to be down here any longer than the rest of us. However, I’m willing to put up with it for a bit longer to almost guarantee that we’ll be safe from danger with my way. Your way has too much risk involved with it for me to even think about putting our master in it.”

“Well let’s see what he actually has to say about it first.”

Both of the familiars turned their attention to said master, Andrew suddenly realizing that he had been put on a spot. Nervously glancing between the two of them, their gazes filled with anticipation for what he may say, Andrew let out a low sigh.

“Alright… before I even decide anything, I’m going to ask you some questions. I want yes or no answers unless indicated otherwise. First, is it guaranteed to cut our travel time?”

“Yes/yeah.”

Andrew nodded his head.

“Alright… is it beyond the shadow of a doubt dangerous?”

“No.”

“So your unsure if it’s actually dangerous or not?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then… so I suppose that you think it’s dangerous because it’s been so long since you had last seen it, am I correct in thinking this Labareda?”

The red headed demon girl nodded her answer.

Andrew nodded at her in turn before he turned to his silver haired familiar.

“And you think that nothing has happened and that we should be able to travel in relative safety… right?”

“That is correct my Dear Master.”

Andrew nodded once again before he turned his attention to Serena, who had remained quite throughout the whole exchange.

“And what about you Serena?”

The girl blinked a time or two in some surprise before she simply shook her head.

“I’m fine with whatever you guys feel like doing. Though being one hundred percent honest? I want to get out of here as quickly as possible. That fight with the minotaur taught me that I’m not as tough as I think I am in this place.”

Andrew turned his attention back to his familiars before he started to scratch his chin in thought. For a few minutes, nobody said anything, the decision ultimately going to come from him. Letting out a quick breath of air, Andrew turned his attention to Unoma.

“Let’s go ahead and look at this shortcut of yours. It could be dangerous, or it might not be. The only way to know is to see for ourselves.”

He then turned his attention to Labareda, feeling a cringe on his face.

“I hope that’s okay with you.”

Labareda let a defeated sigh cross her lips before she smiled at him.

“It’s fine. If this is what you want to do then I have no problem with it… though do be aware that I’ll be doing everything in my power to keep you safe.”

Andrew grinned at his familiar before he stood up and stretched himself a little bit.

“Well, if everything is decided, then we might as well as get going. If this turns out to be a bust then we’ll need to double the effort to take back the time we lost.”

The rest of the party nodded in agreement at that. It only took them to finshe packing up what they needed before the group was underway. Passing the group of Minos that Labareda had dealt with (Andrew had to admit that it was a lot) the group spent less than an hour winding in and out of passages before they came across branching room. It was pretty mundane to say the least, but it was enclosed, indicating that it was a room and not just another passage way. Andrew, looking into the room, noticed that it was about as big as a living room, but outside of that. He didn’t see anything that stood out to him immediately. Frowning a little to himself, Andrew looked back at Unoma curiously.

“For a shortcut, it sure looks like a dead end.”

“That’s because you’re only looking at it with eyes restrained to the mortal realm.”

“… What?”

Labareda chuckled to herself at Andrews dumbfound reaction.

“She’s saying it isn’t visible to the naked eye master. This short cut is actually a magical teleportation circle. It’s connected to another spot set up in the labyrinth.”

Andrew felt his eyes light up at that.

“ohhhhhhhh… now that is interesting… though I’m curious, why would you think something that has such a simple function would be so dangerous.”

“Because circles like the one in this room deteriorate over time Master. Even with preservation spells in place, they don’t last forever. Granted, they might be okay, but I still do not trust them due to the passage of time.”

Unoma let out a small sigh.

“Well good thing I decided to check as you where busy explaining. As far as I can see, it’s in good order. It may be lightly fraying at the magical seems, but it should safely get us to the other side no problem.”

Labareda looked to the dark witch for a moment before she brought her attention back to the room.

“Forgive me if I don’t trust the amount of effort that went into the aforementioned inspection. You have a very bad habit of just half-assing your work.”

Unoma let a pout cross her face before folded her arms under her very generous bust in annoyance.

“I can be hard working when I want to be.”

Andrew let out a low chuckle before he called out to both of them.

“Ladies Ladies… if Unoma says it’s fine, then I’m willing to put faith in her. Same thing with what you say Labareda. I trust you both, so I say we just go ahead and give it a shot.”

Not even waiting for the rest of the group, Andrew walked forward into the room. However, he should have had the presence of mind to check and see if it was okay to walk into said room. The moment his body passed the threshold, Both of his familiars reached out to stop him.

“MASTER STOP!”

One second he was there, the next, he was gone.

“FUCK!”

Labareda jumped right in after him, but Serena was all levels of confused.

“What?! What just happened!”

Unoma, taking a small amount of time to look at the twin-tail, simply grabbed her by the arm and threw her in the room.

Serena didn’t have the presence of mind to try to stop her, but something odd happened when she walked into the room. It felt like her body just seemed to lose all essence of itself, like everything about her just disappeared for a second, but her mind was still aware of herself as it was and the memory of what her body should be like. It only lasted for a moment though, and she was standing a more well lit room, the view of a wall in front of her having been changed to one of an opening into a a much larger room. Currently laying at the threshold of that Room was Andrew with Labareda sitting right on his chest and her paws on his face with a very pissed off look on her own.

“IN WHAT WORLD IS IT ALRIGHT FOR THE MASTER TO GO INTO THE UNCERTAIN MAGICAL PORTAL FIRST!?”

Andrew, who so thoroughly confused and ashamed, could only seemingly stutter under her anger.

“I-I-I-I’m sorry I-I-I didn’t think it was one of those instantaneous types of teleporters. I thought an incantation would have been needed or something.”

“Well MAYBE next time you’ll consult the mages of your entourage first before you jump headlong into instant death okay?!”

Holding up his hand in defeat and in hopes it might keep her anger back, Andrew could only apologize.

“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again, I swear.”

Labareda, who looked as if she still wanted to say something, only let out a frustrated sigh before she got up off of him. Serena, who had watched the whole thing, could only feel relived that he hadn’t been hurt. But she quickly realized that she was still standing in the teleporter room and made her presence known.

“Hey you two, could you perhaps move out of the way so I can leave? Also so that there is room for Unoma to-”

She never completed her statement, as a moment later, she felt something come into contact with her front and knock her to the ground, her covered by soft tissue.

“BRMH!”

Next thing she knew, she was on her back and having a hard time of breathing. What she couldn’t see though was that Unoma was currently on top of her, looking rather disoriented and her massive breast flesh currently suffocating Serena under her.

“Well that was a pain in the ass! Master, I swear to the dark lord of magic himself if you are not hurting right now, then I swear I will make your dick hurt In a little while… and what is si hard under my ass-”

Looking down, Unoma could see a familiar set of twin-tails under her breasts. Though she felt a strong grip grab her by the arms and haul her off, allowing Serena to finally breath.

“*GASP*!! Dear Gods almighty! Why would a man love such death traps!”

Andrew, who had gotten up in enough time to watch Unoma and Serena to start falling over themselves, couldn’t help but feel some parts jealousy, and some parts humor over Serenas previous predicament.

“No idea, I’m impartial to large breasts myself. I like all sizes equally.”

“Neither the time nor place for this master. IN fact, I still feel like I need to give a you a verbal thrashing for that idiotic behavior!”

“Who in the light are all of you?”

The sound of an unfamiliar voice behind them caused them all to turn around. Behind them was a group of three, one male and two females, all of them looking beyond shocked at this sudden intrusion of their situation. However, Andrew Immediately recognized the three of them, his eyes lighting up at them.

“Hey! I know you guys!”

Standing in front of them was the first group he had met when he had managed to crawl his way out of his dark hole.

“Lets see… if I recall correctly… You were Jonathan… The elf was called… Sarya? I think? And the mage woman was called Morgana. Correct me if I got any of that wrong.”

For a moment or two, nobody from the other group said anything, the sight of this person being here and alive leaving them unable to currently comprehend it. The first to recover was Jonathan. Shaking his head in some disbelief, he looked straight at Andrew with his eyes looking him up and down. After quickly confirming that he was not in fact dreaming, he spoke.

“You… the one from that time… Andrew was it? You’re alive?”

Andrew nodded his head at the blonde youth and gave him a thumbs up.

“Correct on both questions! Of all the places I would see you again and it was here, how’s that for divine coincidence!”

Jonathan was still finding it hard to process all of this, but the mage of his group had quickly recollected herself, her eyes scanning the whole of Andrews group before she brought her attention solely on the other male.

“How?”

Andrew looked to her and saw her giving him her trademark glare. Though he wasn’t sure why though.

“How what?”

“How are you still alive? The last I saw of you, that power was eating at your very soul. Nothing could have been done to save you. So how are you still walking and talking? I can’t even detect the deterioration of your soul like it was last time. Your whole and fine as far as I can tell.”

Andrew grinned at the mage before he pointed to Labareda, his familiar giving the mage a glare of her own in retaliation. As a matter of fact, Andrew noted that both of his familiars where giving the mages glare some disapproving looks, though they didn’t seem to be acting out against her because of it. Letting out a low grunt of interest, Andrew brought the attention back to the conversation.

“That would be because of my familiar here. She saved me when I was on the verge of dying.”

Labareda lost the dirty look and smiled up at her master, a smug grin on her face as she looked back to the mage.

“Saving him may have been well outside of your talents ‘mage’, but the same can not be said for one such as me who has knowledge about magics well outside of your mortal lifespan.”

Morgana squinted her eyes in some agitation before the sound of Unomas voice broke her of her mental analysis of Labaredas words.

“Our master is fine and safe regardless, so let’s not dwell on it much longer. I am curious though. Dear Master never mentioned he had acquaintances down here in the Shadow Labyrinth.”

Realizing that he had not ever in fact told anybody about his run in with this group, Andrew opted to speak up.

“Oh right. I never did mention that. I met this group before I met Labareda. The specifics would require me to go into a story that I don’t feel like is all that important, so I won’t bother. But They are a good group as far as I know… and thinking about it…”

Andrew turned his attention back to them, an apologetic look in his face and eyes.

“I wanna apologize for how I acted on our parting. That was really bad of me to lash out at you for something outside of your control.”

Jonathan simply blinked a few times before he remembered what he was talking about.

“Ah… that. Don’t think anything of it. I can understand. Though it is good to see you alive and well.”

Andrew grinned widely at the young man before he noticed that the rest of Jonathans party was looking at his own with curious and maybe some suspicious glances. Realizing what it was all about, Andrew decided to rectify the situation.

“Ah right, I guess you don’t know who any of these people are. Let me introduce you. The red headed girl with horns is my familiar Labareda. She’s the one who saved me after you guys left. The very tall and very attractive mage woman is also another familiar of mine… I don’t know really how that happened but it did. Her name is Unoma. The red headed twintail there is called Serena. She’s a swordswoman we met while down here. She’s traveling with us due to the fact that she lost her memory on a number of things… and then you have me, but you already know who I am, so that’s kinda useless.”

Jonathan nodded at the group before he seemed to finally relax a little.

“I see… well, it is a pleasure to meet you all. I will also show you the same courtesy and introduce you to myself and my party.”

Standing up and bowing to him, the blonde youth put his hand up to his chest in some kind of salute.

“My name is Jonathan De Huen. I am the third son of the De Huen family and a blessed hero set out to combat evil in the land. My companions are Morgana, a very powerful mage from the Sydne academy in northern Eteruia, and Sarya; a wood elf who travels with us in pursuit of evil.”

Andrew nodded before he smiled at the group.

“Well, it is nice to know you guys are alright and that I got to apologize for my be previous behavior. Though I am a little curious… are you guys trying to get out of here?”

The elven girl was the one to respond.

“Yes, we are. We where just about to pack up and leave before you popped in on us.”

Serena hummed to herself at that before she spoke up, her mouth not wanting to keep quite for much longer in this situation.

“Is that so? Actually, we are also on our way out, did you guys want to travel with us? I know this place is dangerous, so I feel that having a veteran group like yours would make it easier on everyone here to get out.”

However, where she was expecting the idea to be greeted with praise, she noticed that Jonathans party actually looked hesitant to answer on that one. The blonde male was the first to speak up after a few moments of confusion from Andrews group.

“As much as that would ease our burdens… I fear we do not have enough food for the week-long trek it would take to get to the exit. We have at most 5 days’ worth of food to spare between us three. I Fear adding more to our party would dwindle it down even further.”

At that, Andrew had to do a double take.

“Week long trek? Labareda, I thought you said it would take three days.”

The demonic familiar looked to her master with a slightly annoyed glare.

“Master, we **are** three days from getting out of here. Only a fool would take the long way out, which is exactly what it sounds like these people intend on doing.”

At the mention of labaredas new estimation, Morgana looked to her, a slight glare in her own eyes.

“Impossible. People have been coming down here for years and our way is considered the fastest in leaving from Here.”

Labareda only looked over at the mage with a smug look on her face.

“Oh? I’m sorry, I didn’t know the fumbling of pathetic humans in a labyrinth they have yet to fully understand could outstrip the twelve hundred years I’ve spent down here studying this very structure. Oh please great human, tell me of this painfully slow way that is apparently even better then the way I know of.”

There had been nothing but dripping sarcasm in her voice, and it only caused Morgana to bristle at the demons’ insult to her intellect. Before it could get out of hand though, Andrew grabbed his familiar by the top of the head and started to squeeze in a not so gentle manner, causing her to grip at him while wincing.

“Ow ow ow!”

“Labareda, play nice alright? Of course they wouldn’t know everything about this place like you do. Your powerful and intelligent and been stuck down here for ages.”

Letting go of her head, Labareda gently rubbed at her temples before she let out a small sigh.

“Understood master…”

Letting out a sigh of his own, Andrew turned to Jonathen and gave him a smile.

“Anyway, that’s the gist of it. My familiar knows an even better way out of here that’ll cut your travel time in half. In terms of food though, we’ve done well enough eating the creatures of this labyrinth, so you don’t have to worry about us eating your food. If you want, our offer to travel together is still open.”

Jonathen nodded his head before he turned back to his own group.

“I’m alright with this arrangement, especially if they know a way out faster. What about you two though? How do you feel about it?”

Sarya already had her answer when she had all of the stuff packed up in the bag, looking at him and the group with a puzzled looked.

“I thought it would be obvious, why are we wasting time standing here waiting around for answers to questions that already have been answered?”

Morgana glared at the little demon across from her before she turned back to him.

“I don’t like it, but I can agree that if they do know a faster way out, then we should take it. But I highly doubt that. Also! Just to make it clear, we won’t be sharing any of our food with you, your on your own in regards to resouces. If you have no issues with that, then lets go ahead and get moving.”

Without even waiting for a response from the other group, Morgana started to walk off, followed by Sarya. Jonathan gave Andrew an apologetic look before he started to walk off behind them. Andrew chuckled to himself before he ruffled Labareda’s hair fondly.

“I think you pissed her off.”

The familiar took the head pat with a lot of affection, but she broke away from it a moment later when she looked up at him.

“Like I care about a pathetic humans opinion about something they hardly know anything about.”

Andrew poked her in the forehead before he started to follow along behind Jonathans group.

“Then I wonder what that makes me and the rest of our group huh?”

Serena and Unoma followed along behind him before Labareda did the same, only she walked forward next to her master.

‘That makes our group one that I like, which in turn, makes all of you special.”

Andrew didn’t say anything, but he felt affection for the demon and her opinion. In all this time, though they didn’t say much to each other, he had come to like this group as well, the people being those he could never really come to hate, even Serena who was a very recent addition.

However, Labareda spoke up loudly to catch the attention of to first group.

“Hey, I thought I would be the one leading seeing as _I’m_ the one who knows where to go.”

The sound of someone growling up front caused Labareda to laugh smugly under her breath. It was no mystery who no doubt was getting upset right now. Andrew let out a low sigh, knowing that the next few days where probably going to be very long in comparison to the time he had already been down here.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“Are you sure you’re leading us on a shorter path? To me it seems like we are meandering aimlessly.”

Labareda looked back at Morgana, the look of smug defiance on her face simply making the mage bristle.

“To a poor human like you it may seem that way. But to something like me, I can read the ebb and flow of the currents of magic around here. It’s not an easily found path for sure, but one that is worth the time to find. We save days of travel in comparison to a few hours of searching.”

Andrew let out a low sigh, this not being the first time the two clashing individuals having this very argument. It had been a few hours since the group had initially gathered together to get out. In that time, not much had been said from Morgana or Jonathan, the prior having spent most of her time arguing with the demon familiar with Jonathan trying to keep her temper down with each barbed comment the demon threw her way in defiance of her navigation. Andrew was also quick to note that if Labareda did not like someone outside of her own group, she would do her very best to irritate and annoy those she didn’t like. Morgana had quickly become the target of her remarks seeing as the mage would question her at every turn. However, this had become the norm at this point, and he obviously couldn’t bring himself to care that much about those two at this point. As long as they got out soon, it was for the better. However, Serena and Sarya seemed to be getting along fairly cordially with the both of them spending time in conversation for a good while. Through those very conversations though he had managed to glen some tidbits about the names of places in this world, though he was surprised that Serena wouldn’t ask about any of them in particular. Outside of that, Unoma had opted to be carried again, using the excuse that she was using too much magical energy as of late and needed a breather. Andrew certainly wasn’t complaining about it though since she was so light after all... plus the nice feeling of her large bust on his back was a welcome feeling compared to the backpack her normally carried. However, his attention drew back to Labareda, the usual banter between her and the magus woman having come to an end.

“Alright Labareda… I know your probably sick of hearing it from others in the group, but how much longer until we find this shortcut of yours?”

Labareda looked back at Andrew with an expression of hurt, though Andrew could see that beyond the display was a glint of playfulness in her eyes.

“Does my dear master even question me at this point?”

Letting an amused sigh flow from his lips, Andrew simply shook his head.

“Not at all. I know you know everything there is to know about this place, but I don’t. So I simply can’t help but rely on your vast ability my precious familiar.”

Unoma pinched Andrews cheek lightly as a pout appeared on her face.

“I would hope that I would also be a precious familiar to you Dear Master. Labareda isn’t the only one here who’s offered good services.”

Simply smiling, Andrew kept his attention on his first familiar, earning an annoyed huff from Unoma. Labareda let her chest puff up in pride as a smile crossed her face, though she replaced it with half attempted exasperation a moment later. 

“Very well… I suppose I have no choice since my master has so much faith in my ability…”

The acting only lasted a moment longer before she went back to normal.

“In answer to your question Master, we actually are very close. Not even a few minutes away. After that will be when it gets somewhat complicated, so make sure you don’t go walking right into it like the last time.”

Andrew received glares from all three of his party members, causing him to let out a low sigh.

“I said I wouldn’t do it again… jeez… gimme a break…”

Jonathan and his group where only slightly curious with what that was all about, but a moment later and they rounded the corner they had been coming up on. At the end of this hallway however, was nothing but a dead end. At first, Andrew felt slightly confused, but he couldn’t help but realize that this was probably something magical in nature like the teleporter from earlier. Upon looking at Labareda, he saw that she didn’t look worried at all, instead she seemed certain in her look. However, the only one to note anything was Morgana.

“Well? Where’s the shortcut? I don’t detect anything in this area outside of the usual magical energy of the labyrinth.”

Labareda looked over at the mage and put on a look of mock confusion.

“Oh no! Whatever will I do! I don’t remember there being a wall here like last time! I feel so frustrated that the human mage has gotten the best of me in this particular situation that I just want to smash a wall!”

A little confused by her wording, everyone watched in surprise as she turned back around at the dead end and charged right into it with flying kick. Turns out she wasn’t joking when she said she was going to smash a wall, because a moment later and the wall gave way in an explosion of rubble. Everyone covered their faces to deflect any flying debris, but a voice from beyond the flying dust caused everyone to look back up.

“Well would you look at that! It seems as if someone built this here to hide this particular way! Looks like I wasn’t wrong after all!”

The tone had been nothing but mocking the whole time, and everybody could see that Labareda was smugly grinning at Morgana. Before the situation could escalate into an argument, Andrew walked forward and gently pat his familiar on the head.

“We got it, you’re a genius. Now take my praise as such and let’s not antagonize the other group anymore for a while okay?”

Labareda took the pats with a warm smile on her face, actually closing her eyes and rubbing her head into his hand for greater comfort before she answered him.

“Understood master~!”

Feeling a smile on his own face, Andrew simply opted to look back at Morgana and gave her an apologetic look. The mage woman did nothing but stare at him in annoyance for a moment longer before she brought her attention back to the wall, where she could only blink a few times in shock.

“Is the wall… repairing itself?”

Curious, the rest of the group looked to see that the wall, albeit slowly, was doing just that. Unoma nodded her head, nowhere close to shocked about this fact. And if Labaredas face was anything to go by, neither was she.

“Of course it is. This labyrinth manages itself after all. It would be in a rather poor state if it didn’t have at least this level of management.”

Andrew simply grunted in some interest before he shrugged his shoulders and walked through the large opening in the closing wall.

“Well, hurry it up all, this won’t stay open forever.”

Jonathans group only stayed stunned for a little bit longer before his words rung true and they quickly followed behind. After that little display, the group fell back into silence, even Sarya and Serena having ended their earlier conversation. For a while, the group continued to follow the demon familiar in silence, the unknown path leaving the true adventurers of the group wary of what they might find. Even Serena was wary, her instincts telling her that in new territory she would be ill advised to be lax. The only three of the group who didn’t seem worried where Unoma, Labareda, and Andrew. The first two being so powerful that nothing really scared them while Andrew just wasn’t worried due to the protection of both of his familiars. Andrew, not being in a state of total concentration, noticed that something about this hallway was different in comparison to the rest of the labyrinth they had been traveling into for the last few weeks now. At first, he couldn’t put a description to it, but eventually he noticed it when he looked back at where they had been walking. Noticing his looking gaze, Unoma spoke up as he looked past her cheek.

“What’s wrong Dear Master?”

He didn’t react to her movement, but he did respond to her a moment later.

“Is it just me, or is it unusually dusty down here?”

Taking note of his words, everyone looked back to see that a thick layer of dust could in fact be seen on the floor, there footprints being proof of that. Jonathan, noticing the oddity, didn’t feel all that perturbed by it though.

“You’re right… but I don’t think it’s that important to worry about. This passage hasn’t been used for a very long time, so it’s no wonder dust would accumulate over the years.”

“True enough… but that would be the case for the rest of the labyrinth. Problem is, that even though deeper down in the labyrinth you go, there wasn’t anywhere near this much dust.”

Sarya, puzzled by this, looked back at the footprints they had made.

“True… but I have to wonder if it’s really that important. It’s just dust after all.”

“I will concede the point that dust wouldn’t be that important, but do you know where dust comes from or what it even is?”

For a moment, nobody said anything to him, the thought of dust never once having crossed anybody’s mind.

“I’ll take that as a no… to sum it up, dust is a product of decay. When something begins to rot or decay, it breaks itself down into small particles. Clothing, earth, even people turn to dust eventually. The reason this is important to me is that in all the time I’ve been down here, I never saw such a thick amount of dust. That tells me something in this passage has decayed. Or a lot of somethings. I could just be speculating something that really isn’t a worry though, so take it with a grain of salt.”

Everyone looked at Andrew for a few moments, the implications of his words having more of an effect then he realized. His own group agreed that even though they weren’t familiar with the concept, Andrew seemed to know what he was talking about and agreed that they should probably keep it in mind. The other group, however, we’re not so inclined to believe it, though they felt it wouldn’t hurt to note it for later. Jonathan nodded his head before he spoke up.

“That is interesting… I’ll keep it in mind as we continue down the path. For now though, Labareda was it? How long until we find the end of this shortcut?”

The demonic familiar seemed slightly annoyed that the other male was asking questions of her, but she held her annoyance in check due to the fact that this person had yet to annoy her in a truly irritating manner.

“It shouldn’t be very long. This hall is a straight shot to a spot close to the entrance. We just need to travel down it for the next three days and we should be good.”

Morgana muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like ‘if everything goes to plan’ but Andrews group ignored her while Jonathan could only let out another sigh.

“I see… very well then. Let us continue then for another hour before we take a short break. We should also be careful seeing as this way hasn’t been traveled for a very long time, so there could be any number of surprises in here waiting for us.”

Andrew raised his hand in agreement.

“No complaints with that plan here.”

With that agreement between the two leaders done, everyone went back to walking, sounds of slightly muffled footsteps resounding out in the old forgotten passage. For a little while, nobody really said anything, even Sarya and Selena having fallen silent in the event something happened. It wasn’t a very tense silence, but it was filled with slight fear of unknown… for some of the party anyway. Andrew, however, was having another issue of his own. He had been ignoring it for a while, but he found that the further along this passage they got, the more he could feel something in him seemingly stirring. At first, he had attributed it to something he ate. Understandable seeing as he had eaten some unusual animals in the past few days. But the more he traveled down here, the more he could feel that it wasn’t something in his physical body, but something deeper in his soul. Like when he had first been infected with that black mass of power, only it felt like a familiar buzzing in the depth of his core. Like there was something down here that he… needed was the only word to come to mind. He didn’t voice it though, keeping it to himself for the time being. Eventually though, his mental state and the troubles that came with that started to resound along the empathetic link he shared with Unoma and Labareda. The former embracing him gently from her place on his back.

Unoma brought her face close to his ear and whispered curiously.

“Is everything alright Dear Master? I feel something is troubling you. I’m sure Labareda can feel it as well, though shes still busy leading to do anything about it yet.”

Andrew thought about it for a moment, his link with the two familiars something he was still trying to get used to on some levels, though it was mostly due to the fact that he felt annoyed at the fact that they could detect so much more about him then he could about them.

“It’s nothing much I think… but I guess if you both can feel it, then it must be bothering me on a more subconscious level then I thought.”

“Would you be willing to tell me?”

Andrew thought about it for a moment. He was bothered by it, true, but at the same time, he also felt that it wasn’t a _bad_ feeling. Thinking it over for a moment longer, he opted to shake his head.

“No… well… not right now at least. Give me a little bit more time. If this persists then I’ll ask you both for help. until then lets just chalk it up to nerves for the time being.”

Unoma let out a low sigh of her breath, as if she wanted to say more, but decided against it. It was a compromise at least. Unome brought her face much closer to his cheek before she gave it a tender kiss, causing him to look at her in a variation of confusion and embarrassment.

“Very well Dear Master. Just keep in mind what you said though.”

Leaning her head into his neck with a content sigh, Unoma stopped talking there. Andrew, somewhat confused by it all, looked back forward to see that Labareda was giving him a very annoyed look. The first familiar was annoyed that Unoma was hogging his attention right now, but let it slide this time since she could feel that it had helped her master. Jonathan, noticing all of this, couldn’t help but smile at Andrew. A moment later and he came closer as they continued to walk, intent on starting conversation with the other male.

“I can see that you are rather well loved by your familiars.”

Andrew nodded his head in answer.

“Yup. I don’t know why, but I won’t complain otherwise. Why? is that considered weird here?”

Morgana was the one to answer.

“Yes. Beyond odd. The demon makes sense in terms of a contract, but the woman on your back? The only way that would be possible would be if she was some kind of demon. But I’m willing to bet she’s some kind of mamono. A Dark Mage if the books are to be trusted?”

Andrew, along with the rest of the group could only look at her in confusion. Sarya could tell that they didn’t know what Morgana was talking about and decided to shed some light on it.

“I’m surprised none of you know what she’s talking about… but I guess you all have very strange circumstances, so it doesn’t surprise me that much… Anyway, I’ll go ahead and explain.”

Sarya took a moment to collect her thoughts before she nodded her head.

“Alright. So, mamono are, in the most basic sense of the word, monsters turned into woman. Of course, the reasoning behind this would be because of the current Demon Lord. Some many years ago, before I was even born, mamono used to actually be real monsters based on there namesake until the current ruler came into power and turned all monsters into mamono. I’m unsure why she did this, but in doing so, she messed with the plans of a few big-name gods in this world of ours. During that time, things where pretty chaotic, with humans being abducted by said mamono to be turned into unwilling mates and humans themselves leading crusades against these unholy terrors in feminine form.”

Andrew nodded in understanding.

“But I get the feeling that didn’t stay that way?”

“Correct. For a while it was back and forth between the races, funny considering all that the Demon Lord wanted was peace between the two races. However, something came along that interrupted that tedious battle. It was another demon lord who brought all of that to an end. His name was Oda Nobulax, and he was a tyrant of worlds and dimensions.”

At the mention of that name, Andrews eyes shot open in surprise and familiarity. Andrew turned his attention to Labareda and Unoma, who gave him looks that didn’t seem very comfortable with his gaze of questioning. However, he had to put that on hold when she started up again.

“Oda Nobulax brought destruction and pain to this world, intent on conquering or destroying it under his fist. Realizing that a three-way war wasn’t going to help anybody, the gods and the demon lord teamed up to stop him. Sadly, even with that alliance, Nobulax was far too strong. His power rivaling even the gods at the time. Not only that, but he had powerful monsters and creatures of his own at his behest to fight for him, only second to him in terms of pure power. The side wanting to save the planet ended up winning out in the end, but it came at the death of millions of souls and a cracked fabric of reality. It was a pyrrhic victory at best, and the gods and the demon lord came to the agreement that anything was better than the destroyed landscape that used to be the world, so they ended up working together to recreate the world the best they could, mamono and humans in all. Sorry, guess it turned into something of a history lesson as well. The original point is that mamono came from monsters, which where under the command of the Demon Lord. In this day and age, it’s still kinda uncommon to see them, but nobody hates them or anything anymore… also, in terms of history, this happened about 1400 years ago, though the actual rebuilding of the world I heard took well over two hundred years.” 

Andrew and Serena both nodded their heads at the situation, Andrew making a lot of sense of it due to his abhorrent amount of fantasy knowledge while Serena was pretty much in the dark about everything. She thought about it for a moment before she realized something.

“Wait a minute… you said mamono are monsters turned into woman… How come I’ve been fighting actual monsters down here?”

Morgana let out a low sigh at that.

“That would be because despite the best efforts of the gods and Demon Lord, Oda’s power had saturated the land and its almost impossible to remove its stain at this point. Normal monsters come from that stained power, though if one is fortunate, they will fall into the less densely mana filled areas and succumb to mamonozation. However, it depends on the strength of the monster in question or the area they are in.”

Sarya let out a low grumble, her facial expression looking more cross then anything.

“Sadly, the Demon Lords power doesn’t seem to care what kind of creature it transforms… before you ask, It also affects elves and dwarves as well, though not as badly as it used to before the war. Sadly, I was stupid enough to get caught up in some of it and was turned into a mamono myself.”

Andrew was a little curious when he started to look her up and down to see if anything about her would be different. Noticing his gaze though, she waved her hand in front of her face to dissuade him.

“No no, it’s nothing physical that’s changed. It’s more like a magical thing… and my libido is much higher as well.”

“Libido?”

“I guess I missed that part… mamono are more like monster succubi. Because the demon lord herself is a very powerful Succubus, all other monsters now share her desire for sexual pleasure… though I had heard that it actually used to be really bad back then in comparison to now.”

“Huh…” Andrew muttered as he looked to both of his familiars.

“Suddenly so much is explained…”

Both Unoma and Labareda flashed him taunting grins filled with knowing. Shrugging his shoulders, Andrew looked back at the group.

“Well, that was highly informative. Thank you for sharing that with us.”

Jonathan simply nodded his head with a smile at him.

“No problem, all information should be freely shared. Especially if it helps wayward travelers like yourselves.”

It was a genuine statement, filled with a great deal of kindness, but Andrew couldn’t help but think that Jonathan must be one of those types who is somewhat naïve. He didn’t bother saying it though, not really hating those kinds of people. Giving him a smile, Andrew nodded his head before he readjusted his grip on Unoma, the girl doing her best to plant her ass on his hands… not that he minded, but it wasn’t the best way to carry someone. After that, the conversations mostly died down and the group continued on for a while. In all the time they continued to travel, Andrew could feel the nostalgia in him getting stronger until eventually he couldn’t take it much longer. Heading to the front, Andrew walked next to Labareda, the girl feeling his insecurity about his inner turmoil and frustration of his unknown condition.

“What do you need master?”

Hunching down a little so she could hear him better, Andrew spoke in a whisper to her, Labareda understanding that this wasn’t something he wanted overheard.

“Lab…tell me… is there anything down here? I get the feeling this passage was hard to find for a reason. And this feeling… the more we travel, the stronger it gets. It can’t be coincidence.”

For a moment, the demon familiar had an unreadable expression on her face, but it only lasted for that long before she let a conflicted look cross her face.

“Well… I don’t want to lie to you master… but at the same time… I really do not want to say. Truth be told, I didn’t want to take this way, but I wanted to get you out as quickly as possible… my reasoning for doing it was for your wish to get out quickly… but I feel that coming this way should have been avoided…”

Noticing the pained expression she had, Andrew felt a welling of sympathy for her. Once again, his familiar going against any and all better judgement just because she wanted to make him happy leaving him both joyful, and somewhat uncomfortable for her devotion. Letting out a low sigh, Andrew felt like he should just let it slide… but at the same time, he felt that if all he did was just push things under the carpet when his servants wanted to, he would quickly become something of a doormat. Steeling himself despite the fact he didn’t want to, Andrew shook his head.

“I understand if you don’t want to say anything. You’ve done nothing but try to protect me this whole time despite the fact that you really didn’t need to… However, if we are going to be traveling this way for the next three days, then I feel like I need to know the things that are affecting me here. I don’t enjoy not knowing, and even less when we’re stuck in a situation like this one… so please? Can you bend once again for me?... if it makes you feel better, I’ll cuddle only you tonight.”

Labareda let a smirk creep on her face.

“You already seem to know how best to entice a demon like myself Master, I can’t help but think you where a real ladies man where you came from.”

“Ha! Hardly.”

Letting out a small chuckle at his quick denial, Labareda sighed in defeat.

“Very well… maybe you knowing will help make this trip easier for you…”

Looking ahead, Labareda thought about what she was going to say, the beat of footsteps being the only thing to count for the passage of time in this dark corridor. Nodding her head in affirmation to herself, Labareda looked to her master, a serious expression on her face.

“Do you remember some time back when Unoma and I were talking about the source of your power?”

“Yeah, it comes from Oda Nobulax, the world Tyrant everyone was talking about…”

Andrew thought about it for a second before a connection seemed to be made in his mind. Labareda noticed how quickly he got it and gave him a proud smirk.

“Happy to see how quickly you picked up on that.”

“So… it has something to do with him then?”

She nodded her head to confirm his suspicions.

“Correct… You know how when you and I had first met, you where on the verge of death? That would be because your body didn’t have the capability to harness that sheer amount of magical energy, as if your body didn’t have the ability to use magic. I had been able to reform your body in a way to store and use all that magic, but it’s still taking time for your body to acclimate to the sheer amount you have. But what if I told you that the amount you absorbed was actually only _half_ of what Oda possessed?”

Andrew thought about that for a second before he gave her a questioning look.

“I… get the feeling this is supposed to be impactful, but at the same time, I don’t really have a sense of scale of how powerful this guy actually was, so the impact is very much lost on me.”

Realizing that he was right, Labareda sheepishly looked at her master.

“Ah… right… Well, let me give you a sense of scale then before I continue. Oda was very powerful, his sheer raw magical ability far outstripping even some of the most powerful entities of multiple worlds. Even the combined might of the Chief God and The Demon Lord wasn’t enough to bring him to heel. It was only after they separated his Mind, body, and soul from each other did they finally have a chance to defeat him. Thankfully, they had destroyed his Mind, so he couldn’t come back anymore, but his body and soul where far too powerful to destroy. Thus, they sealed his soul in the deepest depths of the Shadow Labyrinth. His body however, was changed and reformed into a weapon of immense power.”

Andrew quickly picked up on what she was getting at.

“So it’s his body I’m feeling then… or more precisely, this weapon?”

“Correct… the reason I’m worried about coming down here is that we have to pass through the room the weapon is stored in to get to the other side. I’m very worried about what kind of affect it might have on you. Especially since you are already feeling the effects and we’re still a day away from it. Since your body only holds half of his power currently, I’m afraid of what may happen when you get the other half.”

Andrew thought about that, her words making plenty of sense.

“That… does sound troublesome… but at the same time, we already started down this path, and going back now would be troublesome for us in a few ways… I think it will be fine… but just in case, keep an eye on me… you and Unoma both. I’ll also let you know if something starts to change in me as well… as for when we get to this weapon… well. Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“You’re either confident enough to not worry about this or your so easy going that you’re not really seeing what I’m saying here master…”

Andrew shrugged his shoulders.

“A little of A, a little of B.”

Smiling at him in a defeated manner, Labareda could only comply at this point.

“Well… As you said, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, lets just keep going… also, I expect that solo cuddle session tonight like you promised.”

Andrew simply smiled at her before he gently stroked the top of her head. When he got done with that, Labareda went back to leading, leaving Andrew to do what he wished at the time. Which was to shake off Unoma again since he was getting tired of carrying her, forcing her to take flight yet again and sort of just laze in the air above the group. After that, he looked back and noticed that the group was rather quiet, some of Jonathans group having been interested in what he had been discussing with his familiar, but none of them mustering up the nerve to ask him. It was better that way though, Andrew not wanting this issue to spread amongst everyone else. Noticing that the groups namesake was in the back, Andrew opted to try to talk with him, the young man still somewhat on edge being down here. Walking past, Andrew caught Jonathans attention, upon which the young man nodded in greeting.

“Hey there Jonathan. How are you holdin up there?”

The young blonde smiled at him.

“Well enough. I’ll be even better when we finally get out of here though. I’ve been down here to long for my liking. I miss the sounds of nature and the touch of the sun on my skin.”

Andrew could only agree with that statement.

“No joke. I’ve been down here for a little under a month now. The stone and cold are something I can do without for a very long time... and I think it’s even worse for you since you’ve been down here even longer then I have.”

“Three months actually.”

Andrews face was one of horror and sympathy.

“That is horrible.”

Jonathan could only sheepishly laugh at his expression.

“Well… it wasn’t fun by any definition of the word… but it still had to be done.”

“Why is that?”

“Because we where told that a great evil was down here. And thus, by taking care of it, I was hoping we would be able to increase our prestige amongst the other hero parties and populace.”

Andrew found himself growing very interested in one particular set of words in Jonathans sentence.

“The populace makes sense seeing as you are some kind of do gooder hero, but what’s this about other hero parties I’m hearing?”

Jonathan looked at him blankly for a moment before realization set in.

“Ah, of course. You wouldn’t be aware of that. As of right now in the world, there is more then one hero out to seek and destroy evil. Namely, we go about the world to help defeat powerful monsters or take care of injustice and evils. Though mostly it comes down to monster subjugation. However, our main goal is to take care of the remnants of Oda Nobulax’s forces or evil magic. Even after fourteen hundred years, his evil still fills the world. My own party had heard that this labyrinth had a strong concentration of his power, but we never would have guessed that this was where his soul had been sealed away. We had been hoping to come down here and rid the world of it or do something about it… but from the feel of it, you seem to have absorbed his power for yourself.”

Andrew had a pensive look on his face as he looked on at Jonathan.

“Ummmmmm… sorry? I think?”

“No, don’t be. You did nothing wrong, and I can tell your not one to use power for evil if your behavior for the last little while is anything to go by. IN actuality, I should offer you an apology. We had simply assumed you would die, and in doing so, take his foul power with you. On insistence from my other party members, we where going to claim that we had taken care of it. I agreed to this plan in hopes of making myself look better in the eyes of the rest of the heroes.”

Andrew started to scratch his chin in thought at that, feeling a little annoyed that they would have done something like that in his death. But he honestly couldn’t fault them since if he had in fact died, he couldn’t say or do anything about it anyway. Even then, Jonathan was being rather open and apologetic about the whole thing, so he couldn’t bring himself to hate him.

“Nah… it’s okay. I can understand. Easy fame for doing little to no work? I honestly would have jumped at the chance myself. Heck, if you still want to, you can still take the credit for doing something about it at least.”

Jonathan could only shake his head.

“I’m afraid that just by living you would disprove those claims Ser Andrew.”

“Hummmmmmmmmm… good point… anyway. I heard you say something about other hero parties. Are you guys, like, part of an adventurer’s guild?”

Sarya decided to speak up at that.

“We are something similar to that, but at the same time, adventurers are a separate entity from the hero parties. Though the only real difference is that Adventurers deal with much more mundane tasks while anything having to do with Oda Nobulax or demons of an equally vile disposition requires the blessing of a hero to deal with.”

Andrew nodded his head at them, noticing that Labareda, Unoma, and even Serena where paying attention to this.

“So your like a special faction of adventurer.”

Jonathan nodded his head.

“That’s a good way to look at it. Though unlike Normal adventurers, we don’t have ranks amongst us or receive much in the way of rewards. We are technically supposed to work together if more then one hero is in the vicinity of a calamity… but…” 

Morgana let a sigh escape her lips when both Sarya and Jonathan didn’t say anything.

“Sadly, many heroes like to think there we have some kind of ranking system among us, so we tend to end up with squabbles when a situation arises. Even worse when it’s over and everyone is bickering over who did what in said situation.”

Andrew let a small frown grace his face, his thoughts on this concept causing him to dislike what he was hearing..

“Well that seems more harmful then helpful. I take it there is a reason to act this way? Something like state funding or some kind of monetary gain? I doubt just fame would be the reason to risk causing damage to others.”

Jonathan looked between his party, as if to confirm something before he brought his attention back to Andrew. He then moved his hand over to his sword and removed it from it’s sheath and held it out for him to see. At first, he wasn’t sure what he was doing, but then he noticed something about the blade that he hadn’t before. It had begun to glow with a pure light before the blade itself was completely wreathed in said light. A moment later and it seemed to vanish into thin air, leaving a gem in Jonathans hands. Andrew blinked a few times in confusion, not sure what just happened. However, he wasn’t going to say anything seeing as Jonathan was about to reveal said information.

“Sometimes, in the source of calamities, we can find things like this. We happened to call them sacred arms, incredibly powerful weapons or armor that can turn a single man into a battalion.”

Jonathan gripped the gem tightly, his palm shining brightly for a moment before it seemed to envelop his whole hand. A moment later and the light vanished, only to reveal an ornate Short sword in his hand a moment later.

“This one in particular has a unique effect to imitate any sword I’ve clashed with. It can replicate it perfectly, even magical ones. However, in the case of other Divine arms, it can imitate the shape and power, but any special abilities the weapon has won’t be imitated.”

Andrew looked at it in wonder, his face doing little to hide his current excitement.

“That is awesome… it only works on swords though?”

“Yes.”

“Pity… but I can see why such a limitation would exist… I can also see why people would go nuts to get something like this in their hands…”

Jonathan let out a sigh before he changed the divine arm back into it’s original blade form and sheathed it.

“Treasure or not, a hero should do what he can to help the people. Not work in his own self-interest.”

Andrew let some sheepish laughter escape his lips at that, his face looking a little nervous.

“Well… You’re not wrong, but doing everything selflessly can cause it’s own set of problems as well…”

“I can’t fully agree nor disagree with your statements Ser Andrew, that’s just how I feel though. I’m sorry if it bothers you though.”

The military man let out a laugh yet again, only this one was filled with mirth.

“Nah, it’s fine. We don’t have to agree on everything after all. But anyway, lets keep on. We’ve kinda slowed ourselves down with all this chatter.”

Nodding in agreement, Jonathan, and by extension, the rest of his group, started back at a slightly faster pace with Andrews party following behind. The next few hours where somewhat uneventful, (Morgana and Labareda’s bickering being the only thing to break any amount of silence) and eventually the large party had started to settle down for the day. Though Andrew and his own group felt they could have gone further, they opted not to question Jonathans group on it. Andrew got on his knees and pulled out the boar skin, unrolling it for the group to lay down on. They then pulled out some preserved jerky they had from previous monsters and opted to use that as dinner while Jonathan group got around to there own dining. Eventually though, Andrew group started settling down, with aforementioned male being stuck in the middle yet again. However, when Unoma was about to cuddle up close, Labareda put a hooved foot on her belly to stop her.

“Not today. Master promised me that he was all mine this time.”

Unoma looked as if she wanted to say something, but when she looked at Andrew, she could see a sheepish grin on his face followed by an apologetic look.

“I promise I’ll do the same for you tomorrow in return Unoma.”

Letting out a partially-defeated sigh, Unoma moved away from Andrew, only to bring herself next to Serena, who had just finished taking off her armor. Unsure of what exactly was going on considering she normally slept in her spot alone, Serena only looked at the other woman in some confusion.

“Um, what do you-”

Before she could finish what, she was saying, Serena was cut off when Unoma spread her arms wide and collapsed on top of the red head, embracing her tightly while burying Serenas face in her more than ample cleavage.

“MPHA!?!”

“Be quiet, you’re my body pillow for the night.”

Absolutely floored by this most recent development, all Serena could really do was just kinda sit there dumbly and let herself be used as Unomas comfort tool… though if she was being absolutely one hundred percent honest here… she found she really didn’t mind all that much.

Andrew, for his part, found himself laughing at Serena despite feeling a little jealous of her current predicament. However, he didn’t show it when he warmly wrapped his arms around Labareda and held her close, like a smaller then average body pillow. Feeling her high body heat through his military fatigues, Andrew let go of her for a quick second so he could remove the top and bottom of said outfit. This in turn left him in nothing but his sand tee and dark blue boxers. However, he perhaps should have been a little more mindful of his state of dress based on the current company. His own party was used to seeing him sleep with not much on, everyone save for Serena, being in very little clothing themselves. However, Jonathans group seemed to look a little uncomfortable about his state of dress. He felt he should have minded a little bit about how they would look at them occasionally, but he found he really couldn’t be bothered. Nuzzling his face in-between Labaredas horns, and directly into her red hair. Inhaling deeply to both calm himself and to drink of the aroma of his familiar. He had never really gotten the chance to, but at some point, Andrew had started to notice that Labareda seemed to smell strongly of toasted cinnamon. He wasn’t sure why that was, but it was a wonderful scent to him, and something he found would calm him down when he did manage to get a whiff of her. Not to say he was _trying_ to be creepy, but as far as he knew, Labareda was fully aware of it, and seemed to let him do it. In fact, she seemed to encourage it. However, he wasn’t sure if she was also aware of the other thing it did to him. Feeling a piece of his anatomy getting stiffer, Andrew tried to move himself a little bit to both distract himself, and to try to keep his growing erection from touching the demon. He knew she wouldn’t mind, but at the same time, he didn’t feel all that great about pressing a hard dick into someone’s back all the time. He hadn’t been very stealthy about it though, as the demon simply nuzzled her back into him further, bringing her ass that much closer to his little spearhead.

“Master, why do you try to delay what you no doubt want? I know your open to it, and you know I’m very open to it. Why, you seem to indulge in the thought of partaking in my body when you have the chance… but you seem to have some very odd sense of reason behind certain things you do.”

Andrew let out a low grumble as he placed his chin atop her head.

“Because Labareda, I may like to dispose of my reason at times, but that doesn’t mean I should do it all the time. Moderation is key after all. If I enjoyed all the pleasure of the world every day of every minute, then what would I have to look forward to in the future?”

Labareda chuckled a little to herself, those very words not something she had heard only once in her life.

“Ha… You’re lucky I’m the demon you’ve made a contract with. Others would find those words horrifying.”

Not sure what she meant by that, Andrew only let her grip his warming arm tightly, the one around her upper body acting as a kind of blanket for her. Thankfully the discussion between them had settled him down in regards to his lower half, but at the same time, he still felt a bit of pent up lust in his body. Letting out a low hum, Andrew opted that despite what he said, he would still act on his impulse… However, he opted to do it in a way that didn’t really contradict what he had just said. Getting a thought in his head, Andrew checked to see how his other arm was doing and was happy to note that outside of just having it laze on her hip, Labareda didn’t seem to be doing anything with it. Doing his best, and still failing at it, Andrew stealthily worked his hand along Labaredas waist into a particular direction. At first, Labareda wasn’t sure what it was he was doing, but when his hand began to snake down her pelvis, she couldn’t help but grin lewdly to herself.

“I thought you weren’t the one to abandon his reason for pleasure?”

“Well good thing I’m not the one about to be pleasured, now am I?”

Before she could retort, Labareda felt a finger tracing along the outline of her pussy, the feeling of her master’s fingers sending a warm shiver up her spine and a throaty moan out her lips. For the next little bit, the familiar could only squirm in delight, held tight by Andrews arm and held even tighter by the pleasure running through her body. Andrew, now fully erect yet again, decided to get a little more playful. His fingers began to roam further along until he could feel the small nub of her clit, the moist feeling further down below telling him that Labareda was rather aroused and quite ready for what he wanted to do next. Smiling to himself, Andrew moved his head next to her ear and began to lightly nibble on soft fluffy ear while at the same time began to pinch and toy with her clit.

“Hnng!”

Labareda couldn’t keep her voice from getting out this time, and an adorably small sound escaped her lips. Unoma, who had been in the process of cuddling with a hardly resistant Serena turned her attention over her shoulder to look and see that her master was giving his first familiar a nice little fingering. Feeling somewhat agitated by the fact that she wouldn’t get the same treatment until later, she opted to hug Serena tighter, her impressive breasts further encasing the twin-tails skull. Serena, for her part, looked up to both check on Unoma, and to get a breath of air.

Those breasts could suffocate a man!

Seeing that the Dark Mage had an irritated pout on her face, Serena opted to ask despite having the feeling she knew why the silver haired woman was upset.

“I guess they are enjoying themselves?”

Turning her attention back to the girl in her bosom, Unoma let out a small sigh.

“Of course. Why else would I be so annoyed? I feel as if my dear master pays more attention to Lab then me on occasion.”

Serena was tempted to say something along the lines that maybe he paid more attention to her because she was actually being useful to the overall situation, but she felt saying this to a woman who can use magic without the slightest bit of effort would simply result in her getting into some trouble. So, she wisely kept said mouth shut. Unoma, for her part, felt that with the sounds she was hearing behind that she was getting somewhat randy herself. But she couldn’t just pleasure herself. However, the feeling of Serena moving caught her attention… and gave her an idea. Smiling to herself, Unoma removed both her arms from around Serena’s body and quickly moved them further down until she had both her hands on Serena’s ass.

“Eh?!”

Letting out a surprised gasp, Serena looked up to see that Unoma was looking at her with a great deal of lust in her eyes.

“uh… um… Unoma… what are you doing?”

She was answered when Unoma squeezed her ass-cheeks.

“What does it feel like I’m doing?”

“Like you’re currently trying to molest me.”

“I’m not trying Serena. I’m _doing_.”

Without another word, Serena couldn’t react when she felt those hands slip further down her body and begin to trace around her thighs. More specifically, around a very precious area of hers. Correction, she could have reacted, but she couldn’t when Unoma pushed her closer to her and engaged Serena’s lips with her own. This left Serena in a state of bafflement, but she found that despite the surprise, she wasn’t pulling away, nor was she disgusted by the touch of the woman currently holding her. Actually, I if she was to describe how she was feeling… it would be aroused. With the prolonged touch of lips, Serena found that she wanted to try to deepen it a little more. Before she could try to implement any kind of strategy though, Serena found that a mysterious hand had moved its way to her side and had begun to move under her clothing, the sensual feeling of tender fingers on her skin causing her to tingle. Unomas other hand, now working even further down Serenas leg, was beginning to tease and tickle around the red heads pussy. The girl found herself unable to work with what she had, her experience in anything sexual having been from her secret voyeur tendencies when watching Andrew fuck this very woman or the demon familiar. Sadly, she lacked the proper male appendage for anything more of what she was familiar with, but she thought that maybe she could at least still do something in this situation. Going off of memory, Serena reached up with her free hands and grabbed hold of the large sacks of flesh that encompassed her head. Letting out a startled gasp, Unoma only momentarily stopped before she let a smile grace her lips.

“Well well~ looks like your going to be coming out of that shell of yours after all. I was afraid you where going to let me do all the work here.”

Not responding to that, Serena found herself awkwardly trying to figure out how to best fondle and play with the large breasts in her grasp. It was somewhat hard for her to figure out, the girl not sure if she herself had ever played with her own breast’s. Though from the growing blush on Unomas face, Serena had to say she was doing something right. Feeling those hands on her breasts, Unoma let out a low moan. Despite the inexperience that showed through, she had to admit that there was a nice charm to doing this with another girl. Deciding that now was a good time to teach Serena all about the sexual experiences she may (or may not) have forgotten, Unoma let one of her hands come up to Serena’s own less ample bust and began to massage and fondle her. Serena felt her body shiver with the waves of pleasure running through her body, Unomas vastly more experienced hands working her breast masterfully. Serena felt herself stopping with her own workings as the pleasure began to build in her body, her body shivering with each pinch and caress. Before it got to the point that she couldn’t handle, it stopped. Looking up in some confusion, Serena saw a playful smirk on Unomas beautiful face.

“Now now, you can’t be the only one to experience some measure of pleasure, now can you? I also have needs as well.”

As she mentioned that, Serena felt those hands move away from her body and gently pulled down the opening of her outfit, her bare breasts popping out and tantalizing Serena’s eyes with the beauty of the pretty pink nipples. Feeling a deep instinct, Serena opened her mouth and licked one of them, Unoma letting a small shudder run through her body.

“Yes, just like that…”

Serena found herself drawn to those breasts, her mouth starting to lick at and lightly nibble on one of Unomas tits, one of her free hands massaging the other one in the way she had felt earlier. Unoma let out another moan as Serena did what she could to bring the older woman further pleasure. However, the silver haired mage wasn’t to be the only one to receive. Serena clenched up when she felt a hand dive into her crotch, the feeling of fingers working her sex gently causing her knees to clench together in joy while Unomas other hand got to work massaging one of her breasts.

“Don’t you also have a free hand as well? I think you can find a better use for it then sitting there loosely.”

Quickly realizing what she was on about, Serena moved her hand to where Unomas own snatch was at. She wasn’t surprised to feel that the slit was as wet as she was, her fingers somewhat probing as she tried to imitate what Unoma was doing to her.

Meanwhile, Andrew and Labareda where to a point where it was easy to see who was the one drowning in pleasure at this point. Labareda was panting heavily with her eyes almost glazed over and her mouth hanging wide, her hot breath blowing across Andrews arm as his other hand was two fingers deeps into her soaking snatch and mercilessly pounding her pussy as viciously as he would with his own cock.

“Ahhhhhhh! Master! More! Gods I’m almost there!”

Not going to stop now, Andrew did as she asked and started to pound more viciously, but he decided to add an extra surprise when he stuck a third finger into her already churning fuck hole.

“Hnnnnng! Fuck! Yes!”

Was all she got out before she started to moan loudly, Andrew pulling her up toward him and claiming her mouth with his own to keep her a little quieter. She wasted no time in adding this into her already lust addled mind, her tongue darting into his own mouth, Andrew somewhat caught off guard when she did so. It only lasted for a moment when he invaded her own hot mouth with his own tongue, the somewhat sweet taste of her mouth driving his dick to even higher state of arousal. But he still didn’t put his dick in her, his self control still there, if only barely.

Labareda broke away from the kiss when she felt Andrew finally hit that point of no return in her body, the finger fucking finally driving her over the edge as her pussy clamped down on his fingers, her mouth hanging open in sheer ecstasy as her whole body convulsed in her orgasm. For a few moments, Andrew held onto his cumming familiar as she sprayed her love juice all over his hand, and directly all over her legs. This lasted for a few more seconds before she finally went limp in his grasp, her breathing ragged and her expression slack from sheer pleasure. Feeling somewhat proud of himself, Andrew smiled down at her before he kissed her on the lips, getting a slight shock out of her as he pulled away.

“I hope I did pretty well this time for your reward.”

Some clarity coming back to her, Labareda smiled at him with sheer delight.

“It was wonderful. Though I would have love for you to stick your dick in me at some point in all of that.”

“Then I never would have lasted nearly as long then.”

Bringing her paw up to his face, Labareda cupped his cheek as she gave him an all-too familiar smirk.

“I don’t think you give your stamina enough credit… but I still enjoyed my reward regardless…”

Reaching up, she gave him a short kiss before she let herself simply be cuddled. However, that only lasted a few seconds before she noticed something across from her. Curious, she saw that both Unoma and Serena where tightly wrapped up in each other. It took her all of a second to realize what it was they where doing and a sly smile crossed her lips.

“Master. Look at what your girls are doing right now.”

Andrew, who had wrapped both his arms around her for maximum cuddling, drew his gaze to where she was looking and felt his eyes widen in shock while his dick only got even harder.

“Now that’s something I wasn’t expecting.”

Andrew could see that both girls where deeply into each other, the meshing of their fingers in intimate places and lips on each other’s leaving for a lewd spectacle. Andrew watched on for a few more moments as Serena, who had managed to be pushed on the bottom, was almost manhandled by Unoma, the far more experienced witch showing the girl how it is best done. But he had to admit that Serena was doing her best to keep up, the girls sheer determination showing through with Unomas moans and flushed skin. Labareda got up and crawled closer to watch them, her eyes never leaving the spectacle. Andrew followed along quickly, practically right next to them and watching with eyes wide open. He swallowed as he sat back down, his hard cock throbbing at the spectacle before him. He was not expecting something wet to cover it a moment later, causing him to look down and see Labareda had managed to engulf his entire dick in her mouth, the girl quickly starting to bob up and down. Andrew could hardly stop her, and he didn’t want to, the view in front of him along with the sensation on his dick making him forge the very idea.

Serena, who hadn’t even been aware of the fact that she was being watched, could feel that she was almost at her limit, the feeling of Unoma’s fingers stirring her pussy only further pushing her toward that final moment of ecstasy. And still she kept on with her own ministrations, not even aware that Unoma was also nearing her own limit. It wasn’t until that last little flick of her clit, the one little pinch of her tit, and the last nibble on her tongue that Serena felt her body trail a blaze of fire through her lower loins, her orgasmic yell echoing down the corridor, and Jonathans party doing its absolute best to ignore everything the other party was doing not but twenty feet away. 

Unoma, feeling Serena’s body convulse, could only follow the same a moment later when the twintail dug her fingers deeply into the mages pussy in her throws of peak. Unoma, though far quitter, felt the familiar jolts of electricity race across her body as she shattered into the joy of her release. Unoma collapsed on top of Serena, only rolling off a moment later in enough time to witness her master ejaculate deep into Labareda’s throat, his hands grabbing her horns and holding her down as he spilled his spunk down her windpipe. That lasted for a few moment before he eventually let her go, Labareda extracting herself from off his cock. Her orgasmic look was enough to make even Unoma’s lust burn again, but she was better then that and pushed it down. Drawing her attention back to her master, Unoma let a smile cross her lips.

“I see you enjoyed the little show their Dear Master.”

Andrew let out a low sigh as looked over at her, a content grin on his face.

“Most certainly. Labareda here only made it more enjoyable.”

The Familiar only grinned before she leaned herself against his arm, using his shoulder as a headrest.

“Mutual enjoyment is more my thing after all.”

However, amongst the four present, only three of them seemed alright with the whole thing, Serena, who had recovered enough of her wits to form coherent thought, looked over and saw Andrew sitting there looking at her, the aspects that made her female unveiled to the world. Even worse, she quickly realized that he had _watched her_ mutually masturbate with Unoma. The memory of the action along with the realization that said action had been witnessed caused her face to shoot to levels of red that shouldn’t even be possible for human anatomy. Jumping to and pulling down her shirt while using her free hand to hide her still wet sex, Serena Stammered furiously at Andrew.

“W-W-W-W-W-WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR LOOKING AT!?”

Kinda shocked at the sudden anger, Andrew tilted his head in some confusion before he shrugged his shoulders.

“You right at this very moment? The peculiarity of your question boggles me right now.”

“P-Pervert! Can’t you turn away while someone’s in the middle of s-s-seeeeee…”

Unoma piped in when she saw Serena was having a hard time spitting it out.

“Sex dear.”

“I KNOW OKAY?! Seriosuly, learn a little common courtesy why don- WHY ARE YOU POPPING A BONER ALL OF A SUDDEN?!”

Andrew, who did in fact just pop a boner, stroked his chin in thought for a moment before he responded.

“I dunno, but something about you, trying to cover yourself while getting angry at me for having walked in on your privet time, I find incredibly arousing for some reason.”

Serena was finding it hard to believe her ears, but at the same time, she was having a hard time bringing her mind to bear when the sight of Andrews _thick, bulging, throbbing, cock_ was filling up her line of sight. For a moment, she didn’t say anything, but her mind was running around itself, her thoughts ranging from _‘fucking cover it up already!’_ to _‘I wonder what it would be like if I sucked on it like Labareda just did…’_ returning to her senses a moment later when she realized what it was she was thinking, Serena simply turned herself around to pull her pants back up. But before she did, she found herself gazing at her own vagina, still wet and glistening from her previous orgasm. Again, lewd thoughts crossed her mind as she imaged _Andrews dick inside of her_. Shaking her thoughts away, Serena forcefully pulled her pants back up, not even bothering to wipe herself off in her haste and frustration at herself.

_‘What in the name of the gods is wrong with me right now?! Why did I just think that! Hell, why did I just go along with what Unoma wanted! Why did I **enjoy it** of all things! AHHH my mind is to messed up to think right noooooow!’_

Taking a few deep breaths, the girl forced herself to try to calm down, but behind her, Andrew was only staring on in some confusion with maybe a hint of some understanding about her current attitude, though he dared not think further on it. Unoma and Labareda however, only looked to each other with knowing grins on there faces. The sound of someone talking behind them caused them all to turn around.

“Are you all done back there? I’m wondering if I can bring the sound barrier down now.”

Sarya looked at the group with a pensive stare on her face, not able to hide the deep blush that was formed there. Andrew realized how loud they all must have gotten and blushed a little himself before he gave her thumbs up and a nod of his head. Sarya let out a low sigh before she waved her hand. Though Andrew didn’t see anything, he could feel the air in front of him seem dissipate… though he quickly realized that it wasn’t the air, but a magical membrane. Chuckling a little to himself, Andrew turned back around and was quickly hugged by Labareda. Andrew reached down and pet her head softly before he looked back at Unoma, who gave Serena a sideways glance as na indication of what the mage would be doing. Nodding his head at her, Andrew embraced Labareda and lay down, finally ready for some sleep. Unoma, for her part, turned her attention to Serena, who still seemed to be embarrassed about the whole thing if her mutterings where anything to go by. Getting on all fours, Unoma crawled over to Serena before she gently wrapped her arm around the girl. Her sudden jolting made Unoma put her mouth next to the girl’s ear and calmly talked to her.

“Relax dear. Just a little cuddling is all I’ll do…I promise I won’t molest you again like last time… unless you want me to, then I’ll be more than happy to oblige.”

Seeing the girls ear tips turn red, Unoma smiled to herself before she bent over and gave the girl a tender kiss on the cheek. This caused Serena to turn even redder and made her cuddle up into a ball in some embarrassment. She did not pull away though, allowing the woman to embrace her warmly. Unoma was about to go to sleep before she realized that she needed to put a ward up around the group, the mage quickly doing just that with barely a flick of her wrist. However, though she found the act inconsequential, she failed to notice the look of surprise twenty feet back from the mage woman Morgana. However, that was something that would need to be addressed at another time, the group already drifting off to a deep sleep.

XX ??? XX

**“It is too soon.”**

**“I concur with my twin’s statement, the pitiful host can barely even fathom us, much less communicate.”**

**“It is not for either of you to decide this. We approach the original masters physical form, and once the new master takes that in hand, he will begin to have access to the full control of Oda’s power, our contracts included.”**

**“I find the fact we are bound to such a weakling deplorable at best. He can barely even fight his own fight. Oda was a much better master in terms of power.”**

**“So you say Grendel, but it was you who responded to his summons first, even if the summons was unintentional.”**

**“No choice in the matter. He would have died, and I had the easiest time getting out, even if it was just my hand.”**

**“This point is moot Leviathan, I find communication with him so soon to be a bad idea.”**

**“Again, not for you to decide Hati. I will be the only one to attempt communication with him. I do not dare risk interference from any one of you nor to try to cloud his mind. I will be the only one to attempt this and it will be when he comes into contact with the other half of the power.”**

**For a moment, nothing was said, bitter resentment floating about, but nobody opposed.**

**“Then I take this as a sign of agreement.”**

**“Very well then, but what of… the other one?”**

**“We will not tell Bahamut of this, the destroyer is best left alone to do as it pleases. Only Oda could fathom that creature, and I can only hope our new master has as much persuasion power to compel him. Does that answer your question Hræsvelgr? If so, then we are done. We now wait for the new master to take up his power…”**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Serena let out a loud yawn, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as she did. Andrew looked over at her, a small grin on his face.

“Still tired are you? I don’t know why you would be considering how late you slept.”

The girl looked over at him with a slightly annoyed look on her face.

“Hey, some of us aren’t necessarily used to… new things… ya know?”

Unoma, who had been hovering overhead as usual, floated on down and wrapped her arms around the twintail.

“Well with the way you acted yesterday, it’s easy to see how unused to it you actually where.”

The blush on her face caused Unoma to laugh at the girl’s expense before Serena shrugged her off. Andrew laughed a little as well before he brought his attention back to the front, where admittedly, nothing had really changed. The group had been walking for a while now, the late start from certain somebodies having delayed the group by a short amount of time. Thankfully, they had easily made it up with a quicker pace then usual, but during all of this, Andrew had come to notice that one person in Jonathans party would eye them when they weren’t paying attention. Cue him once again catching Morgana staring at his group before she looked away, acting as if she hadn’t. he honestly couldn’t fathom what it was she found so interesting, but at the same time, it was something she had started doing when they had all gotten up. More importantly, he found that her gaze seemed to direct itself more precisely upward, meaning she was looking at Unoma most of the time. However, if it was a real problem, he was sure that she would have said something about it by now, so he opted to not say anything in turn. Leaving it aside, Andrew drew his attention back to the front and ahead of Jonathans group, trying to keep watch for anything up ahead that might pose a problem later on. He had yet to mention anything to either of his familiars, but the feeling he had yesterday was still growing stronger, and from the feel of it, they would get there pretty soon, though he couldn’t put a time on how soon that would be.

Meanwhile, Serena was busy bringing her blush back under control as she walked along. A moment later and her new buddy Sarya walked up behind her, a small grin on her face.

“You can’t handle teasing very well can you.”

Giving the elf a cross look, Serena only stayed that way for a moment longer before she turned back to face the front, a slight pout on her face as she grumbled.

“Its not like I chose to be teased ya know… geez…”

Sarya giggled to herself before she took a cursory glance behind her, the elf having decided that she and Serena would bring up the rear for an hour or so. For a little bit, they didn’t say anything, but with nothing to say, this allowed Saryas mind to wander back to yesterdays little escapade with the other group. Letting a small blush cross her face, sarya leaned in close and started to talk in a low voice.

“So… Serena… Do you happen to like girls?”

All that effort to compose herself just went out the window. Serena blustered for a moment, the blush returning in full force as she turned to the girl and her ‘accusation’.

“What!? Where did you even come up with that idea?!”

“Well… kinda hard not to think that when you see what you did with the other one yesterday…”

Serena only felt her blush further deepen.

“You _watched_?!”

“Well… when your making as much noise as you did… Look, I’m a mamono okay? When something sexual starts happening, I zero in on it like a hawk on it’s prey. It’s pretty much instinct for me. Just be happy I had the decency to use a muffle spell to stop all the noise.”

Serena only narrowed her eyes at the elf.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Sarya tried to look away, but the sheepish look on her face told Serena everything.

“Oh my gods…”

“Again, mamono. Can’t really help it. Also, you didn’t answer my own question.”

For a moment she didn’t say anything, but a moment later she looked away in embarrassment.

“I don’t really know. I don’t have a lot of my memories since I woke up here. Andrew helped me to recover a few, but I don’t have a lot in regards to how I may have lived my life or sexual preferences.”

Sarya nodded her head in understanding before she stroked her chin in thought.

“Well… you seem to like girls well enough… or at least, girls with large breasts. Of course, I have to admit that I also have had a few thoughts of having your teammate smother me in her breasts…”

Serena looked over at her with a surprised expression.

“Really? What about Morgana? Can’t you just ask that of her? Sure she isn’t nearly as well endowed as Unoma is, but I would think that her chest would at least be decent for that kind of thing.”

Sarya let out a low sigh before she looked off to the side with a defeated expression.

“Let’s not get me started on my team’s sexual preferences…”

“Why is that?”

“Because Morgana is a prude and Jonathan is oblivious when it comes to attractions of the opposite sex. It makes me a little jealous of your group.”

Not really sure how that might feel considering, Serena could only give her a look before she turned her attention back to the front. Sarya, noticing this, felt she may have gotten off track.

“Anyway… so your unsure of what your preferences are? As I said before, you seem to like Unoma at least, do you feel anything for the demon or for Andrew?”

Serena thought about it for a moment before she gave a reply.

“I have thought about what it might be like to cuddle with Labareda and as for Andrew… I don’t really know… sometimes I just see him as a guy to travel with… others… I don’t know. It just feel complicated.”

Sarya looked at Serena as she said that, paying particular attention to when she started talking about the guy. She knew Serena may not have noticed this, but when she started talking about him, her eyes drew themselves to him. Specifically, his lower region. Letting out a contemplative hum, Sarya let her mind work for a few more seconds before she was sure. However, she didn’t voice her own idea on Serenas mental state, it being to late to do anything about what was no doubt happening to her anyway.

“I see I see… well… let me give you a word of advice. If you feel your inhibitions starting to gnaw away, make sure to run them by Andrew first. He’ll be able to take care of it for you.”

Serena blinked a few times when she heard that before she looked over at her, some confusion on her face.

“What exactly do you mean by-”

“Don’t worry about it! Let’s hurry up and get out of here. We still got some ways to go, and we should try to spend as much time as we can getting out.”

Walking away, Sarya cut the conversation off at that point, leaving Serena somewhat confused about what may or may not have been said. Deciding that now wouldn’t be the time to bring it back up, Serena decided to wait to ask about what she was going to say for a later date.

Afterward, the party continued on in relative silence, the lack of any real monsters down this passage being something of note that they all had noticed in the time they had spent in this secret shortcut. However, Andrew had yet to throw off that feeling that had been growing in his body since yesterday, it only getting stronger as they continued. he could do nothing about it though, and he still felt that the only way that he was going to get over it was if he figured out what was causing it. Thankfully, after they had spent the better part of a day traveling, they finally managed to make it to an area that was unlike the rest of the boring hallway they inhabited. Or more like, Sarya spotted it from a good distance.

“Oh? Is that a door I spot further down the hall?”

Everyone found themselves becoming more focused on the path ahead of them, Though Labareda was nodding her head in confirmation.

“You would be correct. If my calculations are correct, we are currently at the halfway point. From this point on though we’ll need to be careful.”

Serena tilted her head at the familiars’ words.

“Why is that?”

Labareda looked back at her, a deadly expression of seriousness on it.

“Because up ahead is where Oda Nobulax’s body was contained. You don’t feel it right now, but the moment we pass through those doors we’ll be assaulted by the sheer power still stored in that very body.”

At that, Jonathan party all looked to each other, some worry in their eyes. Andrew wasn’t quite as worried though, simply shrugging his shoulders in his usual manner.

“Well, we can’t turn back now. It’ll take even longer to go the other way. I think we should be fine, I’m getting a pretty good feeling from this… though that may be the feeling of digesting that orc leg we had for breakfast. It did _not_ go down easy today.”

Andrews stomach issues aside, the party simply had to agree with the logic behind the statement he made. Going back would take even longer to get out, and they where already here anyway, so the only path they could travel was this one. It took a minute or two to get to the actual door, but when they did, everybody save for Andrew and Serena was pretty tense. Andrew was more focused on the actual door itself, the surface having some intricate drawings and details in its stone face. It was a mural depicting what looked to be a wave of bodies colliding with a massive demon etched into the door. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who this was supposed to be or what it was a representation of. However, Andrew had to note the words etched into the frame. He wasn’t expecting it to be in English of all things, thus it was easy to read. Looking it over for a moment, Andrew read under his breath.

“Be wary ye of mortal coil… here lies the world tyrants body, ever hungry and ever vicious…remember the days of old upon his name was uttered in fear and spite.”

He had said it under his breath, but Serena had heard him speaking.

“Huh? Is that what that chicken scratch reads? I can’t make heads or tails of it.”

Andrew turned to look at her, no surprise to be found on his face.

“Makes sense, you language is probably different from mine, so you wouldn’t be able to read my language.”

However, when he looked back up front, he saw that Jonathans group was giving him some surprised looks.

“W-whats wrong?”

Morgana was the first to answer.

“You can read old tongue?”

Andrew cocked his head in some confusion.

“Old tongue, whats that?”

Unoma spoke up at that point, flying over to the door and tracking the letters found there.

“The old tongue is something used long long ago, before even the system of the current demon lord was put into place. So roughly about two thousand or so years ago. I think nowadays people just use Common. Actually, common is just a derivative of the old tongue, only the letters used being vastly different by comparison, but people don’t know how to read old tongue anymore. I myself not even having a good understanding of it.”

“Huh… now that’s interesting… but I don’t think it’s that important right now.”

Jonathan could only nod in some agreement.

“To a point I agree with you. But I think we should have a talk about it at some point in the near future.”

Andrew only shrugged his shoulders at that.

“Well, whatever floats your boat. Lets hurry up and get in there and get out.”

Jonathans group only agreed with his statement before they turned back around to face the door. Labareda, who had simply waited for everybody to get ready, nodded at them.

“Since we are good to go, I’ll go ahead and get this open. However, what I said earlier still stands. The power in this room will be unlike anything you’ll have ever experienced before, so I suggest that you mentally prepare yourselves.”

Everyone only nodded at her in affirmation. Letting out a low sigh, Labareda only looked at her master one more time in some worry before she turned back around and began to weave arcane markings across its surface. It took her very little time to get the door open, her knowledge of the arcane easily picking the doors safety mechanics apart.

A moment later and the cracking sound of the door splitting apart indicated that she had opened it. A second later and everyone felt a wave of oppression like none ever felt before push them to there knees, the sheer gravity of the malic permeating just from the slightly opened door enough to indicate what exactly they where about to get themselves into. Or, that would be the case if one person was not still standing. Unlike everyone else, who was forced to the ground from sheer animosity, Andrew only felt a familiarity to this oppressive power. It was as if this was something he always had. But at the same time, he knew that he was only this way because of the power he held. Everyone else was just struggling to prevent themselves from being flattened. Jonathan only looked on at the door, his face pale and his body shaking in both parts resistance and terror.

“Such… Power! Oda Nobulax… such a monster… even when… dead!”

Andrew looked back at the group, everyone pretty much trying to stay up. However, he could only let out a low sigh.

“Well… I guess I’m going to have to do something about this aren’t I? ya’ll stay here… actually, that was really stupid of me to say, of course you have to stay here. You can’t even move. I’ll be right back.”

Moving forward with ease, Andrew pried the door open just a little bit more so that he could slip through, but even that small amount was noticeable when they flinched, shuddering even harder under the oppressive aura. He then lightly closed the door behind him, though not all the way in the event of something happening. Finally, he then turned around to look into the room that was emitting such force and he had to admit, it was pretty big. The room was square, like one would expect out of a stable construct, but at the same time, the lack of pillars anywhere allowed the whole of the room to be freely visible.

And along with that freedom of vision, came the ease of the sight in the very middle of this room. Sitting there, not even three feet off the ground was a stone block table. Nothing important about it, and nothing grand about a stone. However, it was the thing that was on that stone table that made it vastly more interesting for Andrew to look at. Upright in the very center of that table was an immense ax, as tall as a person and a twin ax head as wide as a tree. It was grossly huge, as if only monsters or beasts of immense strength where allowed to even have the thought of wielding it. But it wasn’t just the size that was intimidating. It was also it’s looks.

Deep red in color, the ax head shone like a savage maw that just recently consumed the meat and blood of the living, but the rest of the ax was black. Even darker and deeper then a moonless midnight black ocean, just barely reflecting the pitiful light that surrounded it. Andrew could tell just from looking. This was what had happened to the body of Oda Nobulax, the World Tyrant. His whole body had been reformed into a weapon, still containing his bodies physical might and power. Andrew only felt familiarity from it though, as if he only need to take it in hand to feel whole again. But he wasn’t so distracted from the Axe’s looks that he didn’t notice something else about it.

Impaled by the handle itself lay something small and almost fragile looking, cloaked in red and white, and maybe just a dash of blue mixed in as well. Curious, Andrew walked toward the table, knowing that he wouldn’t leave until he both figured out what that was, and figured out how to repress the Aura of the ax in front of him enough to allow the rest of the party to safely traverse through the room. Andrew walked on until he was standing right next to the table, and what he saw made his heart heavy, and filled him with curiosity. Laying there, the handle of the ax imbedded into her stomach, was a girl who looked to be in her early teens. She had long golden blonde hair that went well to her waist and was dressed in a red dress with white frills to be found under the hem of the skirt and long sleeves. She had a blue bow in her hair that helped to keep it out of her innocent face, the girl’s eyes closed as if she was in a deep sleep. What he had mistaken for white cloth was in fact six beautiful white wings, three on each side of her body and fully extended as if to show of the girl’s white splendor.

Andrew couldn’t help but find her equal measures cute and adorable, but he felt a knot form in his belly at the fact that she was impaled through the stomach by such a vicious looking weapon. However, that negative feeling quickly gave way to curiosity when he saw that just around the corner of her mouth, a stray strand of her hair seemed to flutter oh-so-slightly. Curious, Andrew leaned in closer. At first, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but a low breathing sound coming from her lips was not high on that list.

“She’s still alive…” was all he said in some shock and and interest. Though there was magic around in the world he found himself, he wasn’t sure what kind of magic would be necessary in order to keep a person alive.

Pushing it to the back of his mind, Andrew looked around her abdomen. More specifically, in the area around where that axe protruded. He was a little curious when he saw that there was no blood, obvious magic shenanigans at work, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why she was impaled in this manner. He couldn’t guess if it was for the sake of a seal or if it was just an unfortunate accident. Letting out a low sigh, Andrew only looked at her for a moment longer before he rolled up his sleeves, already well aware of what it was he was going to need to do.

“Let’s hope this doesn’t backfire on me…”

With that fate tempting statement out of the way, Andrew reached over to the axe and with only a moment’s hesitation, grabbed just below the axe head. He had unconsciously held his breath when he did, not sure what to expect when he gripped it. However, he didn’t feel anything. Correction, he felt something, but at the same time, he felt that it was blocked in a way. He wasn’t sure how or why, but he decided that it would be best to cross that bridge when he came to it. Not even thinking about it anymore he used his other hand to grip closer down the shaft. With a mighty yank, he found that the axe came out quite easily.

In fact, he almost tumbled back with how light it felt to him, but he quickly managed to right himself before such a silly slip happened. Taking a second to hold the axe out in front of him with both hands, Andrew couldn’t help but examine it for a moment as if not really sure if this was all that was going to happen.

“ya know…” he said to himself.

“In these kinds of situations, something bad is supposed to happen when the guy pulls out a cursed weapon… was I expecting too much?”

Feeling that he might be tempting fate a little too much with his recent statements, Andrew opted to stop talking and tested to see if he could hold this behemoth of an axe in one hand. Surprisingly, he was in fact able to hold it in one hand, the thing easy to lift and move about as if he was swinging a large nerf bat. Having established his physical superiority, Andrew turned his attention back to the girl on the table. He drew his line of sight to the girl’s abdomen, where he noted that despite the hole in her clothing, the skin was unbroken and didn’t seem to show any signs of bleeding. A good sign for him. Using his free hand, he hovered his hand over her mouth and found that her breathing seemed to be increasing, as if she was able to focus on that for the first time in a long time. Smiling to himself, Andrew let out a relived smile.

“I’ll get the others to look at her when they get in here… but for that to happen… I’ll need to do something about the power emanating from this thing here.”

Andrew lifted the axe and looked directly at it, his mind trying to work out how best to go about that situation. He had the feeling that just taking it somewhere else wouldn’t do anything and he couldn’t ask anybody outside the room what he could do to rectify the situation. That didn’t mean he hadn’t thought of a theory of his own though. he just had to suppress its power somehow, but in order to do that, he felt that he would need to find a way to connect himself to the Axe and it’s power. It felt like the right thing to do, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure how that might turn out for him.

“Only one way to find out I suppose…”

Relegating his thoughts back to the task, Andrew decided to go through with it and just hope nothing bad happened. Doing as Unoma had instructed, Andrew tried to feel his inner power. It didn’t take him very long, Unoma telling him that the least he could do was try to learn how to detect magical energies around him. It was easy enough since the axe practically radiated power, though the next step was something vastly more difficult to him. He had never been necessarily taught how to use his power, but he was sure that as long as he at least tried, he would figure something out.

Taking a deep breath, Andrew closed his eyes to make it easier for him to concentrate. He found that something was blocking his access to the axe, but he felt it would easily crumble if he applied some pressure to it. Focusing on his power, Andrew tried to grasp hold of it in an attempt to use it. It came to him as if it was begging to be used, his power practically jumping into his grasp. It then began to build, and starting to panic a little, Andrew mentally directed that flow into the barrier that prevented him from accessing his weapon.

It shattered like glass against the flood he poured into it.

“Ah… now I’m about to have a problem.”

And that was when hell broke loose.

Meanwhile, in the outer room, everyone was somewhat pacing. Correcting, Labareda was pacing, Unoma was hovering just above her with her eyes on the door. Everyone had managed to get back up after Andrew had closed the door earlier, and they had decided to wait and see what exactly it was he would do. Labareda had wanted to charge right in after him, but she had been dissuaded by Serena that it would be better to trust him. She had relented somewhat and had opted to keep to the pacing, Jonathans group merely waiting on standby in case anything needed doing. That changed immediately when an ungodly wave of energy washed over the group, even more powerful then when the door had been opened. However, it seemed to start fluctuating in intensity wildly. Labareda didn’t need a cue to know something had happened.

Rushing to the door, she savagely kicked it open and only took a moment to locate her beloved master. He was in the middle of the large room, holding what looked to be in axe in both his hands, wind picking up and energy radiating off of him like heat would from an inferno. She could hear his physical distress, his grunts of pain and the way his body was tensed up. But even worse was the mental connection. His mind was raging, as if a sea of turmoil and fury bellowed forth from her link.

“MASTER!!”

She tried to run forward, to get him to let go of the axe, but two steps in and a wave of power blew her right back. She could only take a knee, burying her claws into the stone floor so as not to be shoot out the door. A moment later though and a barrier formed in front of her, doing it’s best to hold back the tide of power radiating from the young master. Labareda looked back and saw Unoma land right next to her, her hands up in an attempt to keep the barrier going.

“Lab! Help me with this! I’m barely keeping this thing going as is!”

Knowing that this would be a better option, Labareda did as she was asked and held up her hand to assist in maintaining the barrier. It mitigated the effects of the energy in the room somewhat, but it wasn’t doing much. The rest of the group, now having a method to get in, ran next to the two familiars. Sarya was the first to speak up.

“What’s going on?!”

Unoma, gritting past some very obvious pain, only glanced at the elven archer.

“He came into contact with the rest of his power, that’s what!”

Serena looked at the mage in worry, not sure what that could mean.

“How is this a bad thing?! Didn’t he already have it under control with what he had?!”

Morgana, holding up her staff to assist with the two familiars upkeep of the barrier, looked to the red head twin tail.

“In a normal condition, it would be fine, but this isn’t normal power. This is the power and might of Oda Nobulax. I’m sure that the gods and demon lords of that time did what they could to add safeguards to prevent this very thing from happening! Even from here, It’s as if I’m being crushed by a colossal beast…”

Jonathan looked to Morgana, holding his face up when some turbulence managed to get through the barrier.

“How do we help him?! If he can get it under control then it should calm down!”

Unoma cut of anything the mage woman would have said.

“That’s impossible! Even with three of us holding up a barrier, we are doing everything we can just to stay _this_ close! My master as he is now is going to have to try what he can!”

Labareda however, only shook her head.

“I think I can do something, but you and the half-rate are going to have to maintain this by yourself for a period of time!”

Unoma looked to the demon for a moment, not sure what exactly she was going to do before a moment of clarity hit her.

“No… you wouldn’t dare. Not in this small of a room! You’ll kill him and all of us if you do that!”

“That’s only if you keep up this shoddy spectacle of magic Unoma! You can hold this back all day if necessary!”

The both of them glared at each other for a moment, nobody really sure what they where on about between each other. However, as the two of them where trying to duel it out with glares, Serena had brought her attention back to Andrew, and was surprised when she saw him.

“Look!”

Everyone turned there attention back to Andrew and was surprised to see that he had changed his position. He was holding the axe above his head in both hands, having turned to the side. It looked as if he was having a conversation with himself, but nobody could hear it, nobody but himself that is.

Andrew was doing his best to keep his body in check, to prevent himself from losing it right then and there, but this power was outrageous. To him it felt like a storm raged inside of his body and mind. Emotions he hardly even used roiling to the surface while his body felt like it was tearing itself apart and building itself back up. It was like death and life where occurring inside of him all at once, and the emotions of everything that encompassed with it tried to split his mind open from the inside. He felt like he was lost in himself, but when it felt like this would continue, he felt as if he heard a voice in his head.

_‘Young man.’_

He couldn’t even blink in surprise, but surprised he was when something that sounded like an old man spoke to him in his own head.

_‘Young man, you must listen to me. At this rate you will tear yourself apart trying to control this, though I will be honest and say you surprised me with the sheer amount of will you are currently displaying. Myself and others actually. But that is not important, you must-‘_

Andrew didn’t let it finish.

**_‘Who in the fuck are you and why are you talking rather than doing something about this!?’_ **

For a moment, Andrew could feel the surprise from the voice talking to him, but it quickly recovered.

_‘I apologize. I am Called Leviathan. And I had assumed you would be distrustful of me on our first speaking.’_

**_‘Fucking right I am, but I don’t have the leisure to worry about that seeing as I’m fucking falling apart at the seams here! If you can do something or know how to help me, then do it goddamned now!’_ **

_‘Understood. I will need you to focus your power however in order for me to help you stabilize it. Try to take everything, your power along with the axe’s and focus it into yourself. From there I’ll help you.’_

Andrew could only listen to what this leviathan character was telling him, he himself not having any idea how to fix this on his own. Doing exactly as he had been told, he directed all of his power, that of his own while forcing the axes own power into what he found to be his center, or his core. This did not come without its own problems though, as the moment he tried to stuff almost all of it inside of him, it felt like he was trying to push something much to large into something much to small. He felt his body couldn’t handle it, and he was sure that he was bleeding out of some orifice from the sheer amount of concentration he was putting into this. However, he felt a somewhat foreign but familiar power in his own body begin to take hold of that power… and for lack of a better term, seem to make space for it all. After what felt like an eternity, Andrew finally felt as if his body wasn’t about explode into a crimson mist all over the floor and he felt that he could finally take a relaxed breath. However, he was far more curious about who had just helped him.

**_‘Alright leviathan, so you helped me. What did it just cost me?’_ **

_‘Skeptical, a good trait to have. Especially with so much power in your possession Young man. However, it cost you nothing as of right now. However, now that you are possession of your full power, you and I will need to talk again at some point. Just know that I will communicate with you again in the near future. So prepare your questions, for I doubt even your familiars could have as much knowledge as I do about your current power. Until then, keep yourself guarded and trust nothing anybody might tell you.’_

Andrew felt that voice vanish after that line, as if it quickly receded into a deeper part of himself. However, he wasn’t going to worry about it just yet, the ominous words almost sounding stereotypical cloak and dagger novels. Letting out a low breath, Andrew decided to focus himself a bit and check and see how he might look in regards to magical power. What he felt was like a colossus in a very small cage, his power almost double in comparison to what it was earlier. Deciding that he should probably suppress that, Andrew thought about lower the levels he was emitting and found his power resisting at first, as if it didn’t want to be contained. He could only ‘man handle’ it into submission at this point, like trying to put a struggling cat into a wash bin. But he finally succeeded after a moment and he could only sigh in exasperation.

“Well that wasn’t how that should have gone… but I guess it could have been worse.”

“Your damn right it could have been Master!”

Stunned by the sound of the voice, Andrew turned around and saw that the group had apparently made its way into the room when he hadn’t been looking. However, the very cross expression on both Lab’s and Unoma’s faces told him that they no doubt where not happy with his previous stunt. Nervously looking between the two of them, Andrew attempted communication.

“Hey guys… when did you get in here?”

“About halfway through whatever it was you were doing. And do not start trying to act al innocent with me! I know exactly what that axe in your hand is!”

Andrew looked from Labareda to the aforementioned weapon in hand and back to her.

“Yeah… well, it kinda needed to be done since nobody in the group but me seemed able to even move around in here.”

“You could have at least discussed it with us first! even I could have told you that something terrible would have happened if you did this without any preparation!”

However, where Unoma and Labareda where busy chastising their master, Serena and the rest of the group saw the stone table right behind him, and the movement that was occurring there. Serena was the first to point it out.

“Andrew, what’s that behind you?”

Stopping what he was going to say next, Andrew turned around to see that the girl who had been previously sleeping, was waking up, her body already shifting to a sitting position. Bringing the current argument to a close by turning around, Andrew tried to get the girls attention.

“Well hello there sleeping beauty. Glad to see you woke up.”

The girl, blinking groggily, turned to look at the source of the voice. For a moment, she wasn’t sure what she was looking at and raised her hand up to rub the sleep from her eyes. Andrew found this adorable, but he kept it to himself as she got done. The blonde then turned to look at him again and muttered one word from her mouth.

“Alex?”

Andrew cocked his head to the side at the sound of a familiar name, but he felt that the girl couldn’t be talking about his little brother. Andrew shook his head at her.

“Sorry, that’s not my name. My name is Andrew. You where sorta right though, since I do have a little brother named Alex after all. But what’s your name sweetheart? And how did you get here?”

The girl only looked at Andrew for a moment, her eyes opening wider, allowing Andrew to get a look at her bright green eyes. He would compare the color to emerald, but he was more focused on the look of confusion on her face when she saw the axe in his hands. It only took her a moment to suddenly be hit with memories, causing her to look down at her stomach, where she still remembered the painful feeling of being pierced.

“I… this is… I was… lost… and trapped… and then brought here… and then they used me for… some kind of seal… I don’t… know… where am I? where is my brother?”

Andrew saw the girl start to panic, fear and confusion deep in her eyes as everything in her mind seemingly began to spin out of control. Dropping the axe, Andrew put his right hand on the girl’s shoulder, forcing her to look up at him.

“It’s alright darling… just stay calm and I’ll help you out okay? You just need to tale a few deep breaths and you’ll feel a lot better, alright?”

The girl slowly nodded her head at him, his voice firm… but at the same time, very comforting to her. Like it was an anchor to hold onto in this very turbulent storm of her own thoughts. For the next few minutes, the girl simply breathed in and out, doing her best to calm herself down. Eventually she did manage to feel more comfortable, Andrews firm hold of her shoulder anchoring her. Andrew smiled down at her, as if to reassure her.

“Feeling better sweetheart?”

The girl slowly nodded her head at him, the fear and anxiety in her eyes having diminished greatly.

“Yes… thank you…”

Andrew continued to smile as he used his free hand to pet the top of her head gently.

“Good girl. Do you mind telling me your name?”

For a moment, the girl didn’t say anything, being lost in thought about that. However, it came quickly when she managed to refocus her attention.

“Aruma… my name as Aruma.”

“That’s a lovely name. Aruma… it just seems to roll off the tongue.”

The girl, who had been nothing but fear and anxiety a few moments ago, couldn’t help but smile a little at Andrews praise.

“Now Aruma… I know you probably have a lot of questions, and I have my own fair share as well. But if it’s okay with you, do you mind if we go ahead and get out of here? You see, we aren’t very far from the exit of this place, and we should be out of here within the next day. I mean, if you want to stay here, then I won’t stop you, but I personally wouldn’t feel very comfortable if I left you down here by yourself. Which also begs the question, do you want to come with me?”

For a moment, she didn’t say anything, the girl only looking at him as if to see if he was trying to trick her. However, she nodded her head a moment later.

“M’kay… I’ll go with you…”

Smiling at her more brightly, Andrew simply held his hand out to her to help her up off the table. However, as she got to her feet, her legs started to give way, almost causing her to fall to the ground. Andrew, still right there, quickly caught her.

“Ah… I guess you’ve been down here so long that it’ll probably take time for your legs to get used to walking again… I guess You’ll just have to get on my back then.”

Curious, the girl wasn’t sure what he was talking about until her kneeled down next to her with his back facing her.

“Come on. Also, don’t worry, I’ve done this plenty of times already.”

Despite the oddity of that statement, Aruma found that his confidence filled her with some of her own before she carefully wrapped her arms around his back. He then used his hands to push her further up before he looked back out at the group. Noticing that they where confused about the girl on his back, along with the wings she was keeping nestled against her back, Andrew opted to say something. 

“Everyone, this is Aruma. She’ll be traveling with us as well to get out of here. She’s kinda groggy seeing as she just woke up from a really long nap, so please don’t pester her until she’s ready to talk, aight? Also, sorry Unoma, but you’ll have to fly on your own for a while. This back is taken for the time being.”

The dark mage could only shrug her shoulders followed by a ‘it is what it is.’ Everyone else only nodded in understanding, but they still wanted to ask questions about the situation. However, Serena took note of something else about the situation.

“I know you have the kid on your back… but what are you going to do about the axe you dropped?”

Andrew blinked a few times before he looked over his shoulder at the Axe leaning up against the table.

“Oh… right… could someone carry that for me?”

However, Morgana shook her head before anybody did anything.

“I would seriously not do that if I where any of you. It may be suppressed now, but that weapon is the body of Oda Nobulax himself. Anyone else who touches it I fear will have something disastrous happen to them.”

Andrew looked to her before he looked back at the axe, suddenly realizing what she was talking about.

“Ah… I guess your right on that one… might be best if I was the only one to handle it…”

However, he didn’t want to let Aruma be held by anyone else, not sure how she might react to anybody else from the group. However, a thought came to his mind, something crazy yeah, but at the same time, he had a feeling it would work. Turning his body to face the weapon, Andrew freed up one hand and held it to his side. A moment later and he concentrated on it.

**“Come.”**

Surprising everybody, the axe flew from the ground and directly into Andrews hand, where it disappeared upon coming into contact with him. Grinning to himself, Andrew turned to look at Morgana.

“I think that solves that don’t you say?”

Somewhat agap, Morgana didn’t say anything in return, most of the rest of her group equally surprised. However, Serena started to get impatient and tapped her foot on the ground.

“Less gaping and more moving guys. I want to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

Andrew smiled at that before he corrected his grip on Aruma, the girl holding tight as he started to walk toward the door.

“Serena is right, if this room is the halfway point, then we should get moving. We wasted enough time with this little escapade.

Unoma couldn’t help but chuckle at that as she flew overhead.

“I believe you know more about that then we do Dear Master.”

Andrew wisely opted not to answer her. Thankfully, getting the other door open was just as easy as the last one, only they didn’t have to worry about ungodly amounts of energy holding them back this time, which allowed them to get underway down the path. For a while, it was nothing but the continues pace of drudging steps and silence. However, after a while, Andrew felt that he should probably start to get a little more information out of the girl he just so happened to be carrying, though he found his thoughts did linger to what that Leviathan character had said back in the sealing chamber (as he was now calling the room where his axe had been sealed up).

“So, Aruma… did you have any questions for me? Or do you feel in the mood for questions?”

For a moment, the girl didn’t say anything, but it didn’t last very long before she spoke up.

“Where… am I?”

Andrew thought about it for a moment before he spoke, being a little selective in his answers.

“This dungeon we are currently in is called The Shadow Labyrinth. The world itself… well… hey, Jonathan what is the name of the land we are on? Its not called Rigel is it?”

The blonde man looked back at him from the group. Nodding his head.

“That would be correct Ser Andrew… actually, we happen to be on an island some distance away from Rigel. Though the shadow labyrinth isn’t really treated as belonging to Rigel since people from many different places come to train here.”

Andrew nodded his head in understanding.

“Huh. Good to know. Anyway Aruma, does that answer your question?”

She responded with a short ‘Nh’ in replay. Andrew wasn’t sure if that was her way of saying yes, but he wasn’t going to question it. However, seeing as she didn’t seem to know what to ask next, he opted to ask one of his own.

“I take it you aren’t familiar with that name then… do you mind explaining a little more about yourself and where you came from?”

The blonde girl nodded in answer.

“Nh. My name is Aruma… I have an older brother named Alex… and he’s the leader of the Hiram tribe… I know I come from another world… and I ended up getting sent here when something happened in my own world… I don’t really remember what though… after that… I was found by a group… um… I was asked to do something… I didn’t want to do it… But they forced me to do it anyway. Then they locked me up in here and stabbed me with that axe thing… though it used to look like a very scary demon person… sorry… I don’t really remember much more then that…”

Andrew simply nodded his head at her.

“That’s fine, you just woke up a bit ago, and you’ve been asleep for a very long time. It’s no surprise that you don’t really remember much about before you went to sleep. Though it doesn’t sound like the memories you have are very good ones. Sorry if I brought up some bad memories.”

“No… it alright…”

Everyone in the group found what she said to be a little sad, and perhaps somewhat disturbing. It could easily be inferred that she was forced to seal Oda Nobulax against her will, something that didn’t sit well with anybody in the group. However, Andrew felt that it would be best to draw away from that memory for a moment.

“If you say so… anyway, do you have any other questions?”

The girl looked to Andrews neck before she looked at everyone else in the group.

“Who… are they?”

“Oh! I guess I never gave any of them a proper introduction. Silly me! Let me introduce the members of my party. The red headed girl with horns is my first familiar, Labareda. Wonderful girl she is.”

Aforementioned demon girl gave the girl a wide smile, Labareda looking the closest in physical age to her, thus she tried to make her feel comfortable in terms of familiarity.

“The silver haired woman floating above us is my second familiar Unoma. I hear she’s super powerful, but all she’s really shown me is that she’s awesome at two things. Being lazy and fuuuuu… bed top exercises.”

Andrew was about to say something else, but he wasn’t sure what the girls actual mental age was and thus opted to keep his words clean in her presence. She didn’t seem to mind though as she seemed rather distracted by the mage who floated down next to them and gently ruffled the girls long hair.

“If you have any problems, just make sure to come to me to fix them okay? I’m more then happy to help you.”

Andrew along with Serena where a little surprised to see her act like this, the woman’s older sister act not something they where used to seeing from her. However, they opted to leave it be when Aruma simply smiled at her followed by a ‘Nh’ while they took for confirmation of some sort. Getting back to the introductions, Andrew looked directly behind him past the winged girl.

“And back there we have the sorta hired mercenary of our group. The lovely red headed twin-tail Serena. Just like you, she doesn’t come from this world. I hope you can get along with her.”

Aruma looked back at the girl, Serena having started blushing when he had called her lovely, but quickly recovering when she noticed she was being looked at.

“Why did you have to say lovely of all things… anyway, I guess I count as the bodyguard to the guy your riding on seeing as the first two he talked about are good enough in a fight by themselves. Don’t worry though, I’ll help keep you protected as well. Nice to meet you Aruma!”

Serena gave the girl a big friendly smile along with a wave, both of which where returned by the blonde girl. She then brought her attention to Jonathan and his own group before she looked to Andrew for an introduction.

He only smiled at her.

“I’ll let my buddy introduce his own group. Though we are traveling together, we really aren’t part of the same group after all.”

Turning to Jonathan, Andrew nodded his head at him to go on. A cue the other male took.

“Hello there young Aruma. My name is Jonathan. I am the third sone of a noble, and with me are my two traveling companions, Morgana, a powerful mage from the Eturia mage academy, and-”

Before he could continue, Sarya butted into the rest of the conversation.

“My name is Sarya Juan Mapleleaf! A wood elf from the southern vaunwoods who hunts evil and monsters around the world with Ser Jonathan and Lady Morgana!”

Andrew found the girls sudden interest and flair a little unusual, but Jonathan simply smiled sheepishly at him.

“Sorry, she gets fired up when it comes to children…”

Only nodding his head with some amusement, Andrew looked back to see that Aruma seemed interested in the elf’s enthusiasm. Though he honestly couldn’t get all that fired up about that line of work. However, Sarya pretty much took over the conversation from there, the elf wanting to regale the girl with exploits from around the world about her and Jonathan’s group. For what felt like the next few hours, all anybody ended up hearing was Saryas stories about Jonathan’s exploits and adventures, a great many Andrew felt where embellished, though she seemed to try to keep it somewhat realistic and truthful. It didn’t really matter though as Aruma simply listened on in rapt attention. It was also a good way to kill time as the group travelled, the boring din of footsteps on stone having been heard enough from everyone. Eventually though, the group had to come to a halt, the feeling of exhaustion finally hitting most everybody present. Spending a few minutes getting everything set up for some sleep, Andrew, who had already set Aruma down on the more comfortable boar fur rug, found that that he found a small problem. That problem being that his own group ate some weirdest shit around and that he didn’t want to subject Aruma to eating the legs of orcs or the bodies of giant insects. Letting out a low sigh, he couldn’t help but look over at Jonathans group, who had already gotten their small fire pit going and cooking there own meal deciding that now rather then later would be a good time to ask, he got up and turned to look at Aruma, the rest of his group getting ready to eat their own food.

“I’ll be right back you all… by the way you guys, don’t feed Aruma any of the crap we eat okay?”

Only looking at him curiously, nobody said anything before he walked over to Jonathan group. Jonathan, who had been tending to the fire (Andrew still wasn’t sure how they managed to get that going) looked up to see Andrew walking toward him with something of a nervous grin on his face.

“Andrew! Is something the matter?”

Andrew couldn’t help but laugh a little nervously before he answered.

“Not… for me specifically… if anything, it’s about the most recent addition to my group.”

Sarya looked a little worried when she heard that.

“Why? Is something wrong with her?”

“No… not any immediate issues… if anything she seems to be doing okay. No, what I want to talk about is the fact of what my group eats.”

At that, he got knowing looks. he knew that what his own group was beyond odd, Unoma and Labareda not really caring what they stuffed in their mouths seeing as they hardly even needed to eat while Serena just cooked it to the point of being palatable. However, that never gave him much more comfort, and he found that his groups menu choice was actually pretty bad.

“yeah… so… I came over here in hopes of petitioning you guys for some of your food. For Aruma of course, not for any of the rest of us.”

The look he got from Morgana was annoyed at the very least.

“I do believe you said you would be able to take care of your own food issues yourself did you not? I’m sure we had an agreement that your own food situation was yours to deal with.”

Andrew gave the mage woman a look that could only be described as ‘annoyed’.

“Yes, I did say that. But it’s not for my whole group, it’s only for one small girl because she hasn’t eaten anything in what might have been fourteen hundred years. I don’t want to give her any of the weird crap my group eats in fear of giving her stomach issues. Just a little soup or something that goes down easy is all I’m asking.”

Morgana looked as if she was about to argue the point, but Sarya spoke up.

“It’s fine Morgana, we have more then enough, especially since we’ll be out of here by tomorrow anyway. Plus, I can’t bear the thought of that girl getting sick because we weren’t willing to give up a little food.”

Again, Morgana looked as if she wanted to say something, but she only turned her attention to Jonathan. The young man only nodded his head at her.

“I don’t see the harm in it. How about some of the dried fruit we have? It should go down easily enough for her and tide her over for a while. We’ll give you enough for tonight and tomorrow morning, how does that sound Andrew?”

Andrew only smiled at the young man.

“Perfect! Couldn’t have asked for anything better! You’re a real bro Jonathan! I owe you for this!”

Andrew waited a moment or two for Sarya to get the food. Thankfully it was easy enough, just reaching into a bag. It was when it was about to trade into his hands is when Morgana said something.

“Before you walk off with it though. I would like to impose a condition.”

Curious, Andrew looked over at her in response.

“Okay… shoot.”

“I would like to speak with Unoma… alone for about ten minutes.”

Now confused, Andrew looked back at the woman in question before he gave Morgana an equally confused look.

“Uh…. Sure? I guess? That’s kinda up to her, but I’ll see if I can arrange it. Just let me get this over to Aruma and I’ll let her know you wanted to talk.”

“Appreciated.” Was all he got out of her before he walked off, curiosity and some slight concern on his face. He finally managed to get back to the group, upon whence he kneeled down next to Aruma.

“Here ya go sweetheart. I figured you wouldn’t want to eat anything we had on us, so I got some from the other group. It should last you until lunch tomorrow. So don’t eat it all in one sitting m’kay?”

“Nh.” Was her only response before she took the bag from his outstretched hand and started to nibble on the dried fruit inside. Andrew gave her a gentle pat on the head, a gesture she appreciated before he stood back up and looked directly at Unoma. Noticing the intensity of his gaze, the dark mage looked back up at him curiously before she let a grin spread across her face.

“What’s the look for Dear Master? Did you feel in the mood to give me a recharge?”

Andrew only shook his head.

“Not right now. Maybe in a little bit when… certain people are asleep. No, I actually came over to let you know that Morgana wanted to talk with you one on one for some reason.”

Unlike what he had been expecting, Andrew was surprised when Unoma simply looked over at the mage in question and let out an irritated sigh.

“I figured this would happen before we got out of here…”

Perplexed, Andrew cocked his head to the side to indicate his confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

Unoma only looked back up at him with a smile on her face.

“Don’t worry about it Dear Master. Anyway, this should be done in a few minutes. Feel free to start getting everyone ready for sleep. I get the feeling I’m going to want to vent when I get back.”

Andrew, along with the rest of his group, could only look to each other in hopes they knew what she was on about. However, only Unoma could answer that for them, and she wasn’t keen on it right this moment. Getting up off the floor, Unoma started to hover over the group, upon which she indicated to Morgana to follow along. Doing just that, Morgana told her own group she would be back in a few minutes. Following after the silver haired mage, Morgana continued after Unoma until the both of them where far enough away to not be overheard. Turning around, Unoma looked on at Morgana with an annoyed expression on her face, as if this was the last thing she wanted to do right now. Seeing as Unoma wasn’t going to start the conversation, Morgana decided to instead.

“I’m sure you already know what it is I’m going to say but humor me by letting me say it anyway. You… I’ve heard everyone call you Unoma many times on this trip, but I never took much stock in your name until last night. Unoma is the name of a legendary sorceress, and It didn’t hit me until a little while ago that you are in fact that legendary sorceress.”

Unoma, in a sarcastic fashion, started to slow clap.

“Yes, I am the Prisma Sorceress, the Witch of Babylon, the Demons Whore, and owner of many other such unamusing and absolutely insignificant titles. Good job finding that out when you literally could have asked me. Plus, it’s not like I was keeping it a secret or anything.”

Not letting the sarcastic tone get to her, Morgana only looked at the woman head on.

“Yes, none of that is really surprising given what is recorded of your uncaring attituded. However, I find it most curious that you, of all the people who are still alive from the age of Oda’s terror, even allow that young man to even walk with that _filth_ deep in his soul. As far as I was aware, you where one of the key individuals who helped to destroy the tyrants mind and seal away his powers. So why is he still walking around if you don’t mind my asking? Even worse, why are you his familiar.”

Unoma let a long sigh, but this time, she stopped floating and instead stood on her own two feet in front of the other mage.

“Becoming a familiar was an oversight on my part. But I honestly find that it’s not that bad. Secondly, he walks around because I just so happen to like my Dear Master. Oda’s power only being a slight stain on the otherwise interesting young man I’ve come to like in these last few weeks. However, none of that should be any of your business.”

“Do not **dare** tell me that it’s not my business. There is a reason Oda is still feared even to this day. Letting that man walk out of this labyrinth alive as paramount to telling the world that Oda Nobulax himself has returned! We left him to die because we knew it would be for the greater good if that kind of power was to vanish!”

At that, Unoma narrowed her eyes at the woman, clear hostility in her glare.

“I care not for the world or how it may view my Dear Master. As long as he is safe and sound, he could be the coming of the next World Tyrant for all I care. However, you know as well as I do that Oda’s mind was destroyed. The chief God and maou saw to that the day we pulled his power from his corpse.”

“Odas mind in him isn’t the problem. It’s the other six that are the real issue. Nobody saw what happened to Oda’s pets when he died, everyone assuming that they died when he did. But nobody knew that for certain. Even now they could just be waiting for this young man to come waltzing right out, and then only the Gods know what would happen to him and the rest of the world.”

It was only for a moment, But Unoma had an uncomfortable look on her face. But it was gone so fast that Morgana wasn’t sure if she saw it right. Simply letting out another sigh, Unoma simply started to hover again.

“It really doesn’t matter at this point. What will be, will be. If he is destined to become the next Oda Nobulax, then I guess that’s what’s going to happen. But let me say something first. I seriously doubt it, My Dear Master having what would amount to a very clean conscious. Also, in the event that you try to take matters into your own hands… forget me, Labareda will see you burn alive. That girl having an almost overzealous love for our current master. It’s just a warning though, so heeding it or not is really up to you.”

With that out of the way, Unoma started back to her group, Morgana’s angry glare going ignored as she passed the mage woman. However, Morgana wasn’t stupid, as she knew that if it really came down to it, she would have no chance in doing anything to the one named Andrew. Both Unoma and Labareda where to powerful individually for her to handle, let alone both of them using their power in tandem. That wasn’t even accounting for Andrew raw power itself. No, as frustrating as it was, she could do nothing about the situation. However, she knew that others who where much stronger then her would find out about this, and she knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. Doing as the Dark Mage before her did, Morgana simply turned around and went back to her group. Andrew, who had watched the both of them finish up, simply observed for a moment longer before Unoma hovered over to the group and landed right next to him, where she then lay her head down in his lap.

“So… did your talk go well?”

The mage let out an exasperated sigh.

“Not the choice of words I would use, but it’s not going to be a problem in the future.”

Andrew simply nodded his head.

“Hum… I see… well, good job with whatever it was.”

Letting out a low sigh, Andrew began to run his hand through his familiars long silver hair, the silky-smooth feeling relaxing his mind. Unoma though, wasn’t expecting it. However, she didn’t react or anything, only a small widening of her eyes indicating such a reaction from her. She only relaxed though, the pampering of her hair a subtle and comfortable feeling to her. Nestling her head further into his lap, Unoma only closed her eyes as he continued to stroke her head and hair.

“I was going to ask for something a little more intimate… but I feel that this will be more enjoyable for the time being Dear Master…”

Andrew simply smiled at her as he continued his gentle stroking. However, when he looked back up, he noticed that his other familiar was giving him a jealous look. Or more specifically, a look that was directed at Unoma. Serena was already laying down, but she couldn’t help but feel a slight ting of jealousy at what she was looking at, though again she wasn’t sure why she would in the first place. Aruma, who had watched the whole thing and wasn’t very familiar with everybody else in the group, only came up next to Andrew and leaned up against him because he was the most comfortable to be around. Upon seeing that, Labareda could only hold it in for so long before she jealously took the other side, using his arm as a pillow of sorts. Andrew, in all of this, found that it was something of an uncomfortable position. He could only endure though, the sensation being nice in their own way. Serena, not wanting to be left out, decided to use Unoma as a kind of pillow, nestled gently next to the mage woman, who only held her close. It was in this position that Andrew group found themselves going to sleep in, the only onlookers simply finding it to be a heartwarming scene to some, and annoying to others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback appreciated


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Sarya looked at Andrew with a warm and fuzzy expression on her face, her hand coming up to stifle the girlish squeal that would have come out of her mouth if she had left it unobstructed. Andrew let out a low sigh at the stare, knowing that it wasn’t so much him she was looking at, but the sleeping face of Aruma who clung to his back as she rested. To say the elf was infatuated with the winged girl would be an understatement, and something he only really came to know after Sarya spent as much time as she could trying to observe and talk with the little girl.

With an amused grin crossing his lips, Andrew turned his attention directly to her.

“Ya know she’s not going anywhere right? She’ll be right on my back when we go to take a stop here in a bit.”

“I know that, but I just can’t get enough of this angelic face of hers! She’s just so adorable!”

Only shaking his head in some mock exasperation, Andrew put his eyes forward and continued walking. It had been a few hours since everybody had woken up, Andrew not having gotten as much sleep as he would have wanted, but he really only had himself to blame due to the fact that he stayed in his upright position the whole time. However, he was happy to see that most of the rest of his group had, though Aruma had not woken when everyone else got up. Instead of waking her, Andrew had opted to carry her gently the whole of the rest of the way. Most of the trip had been done in silence, so it felt like it had been going on for a while, but that had given Andrew plenty of time to think on several things about his current situation.

The first and foremost was the fact that, according to everyone else, he now had the total power of Oda Nobulax at his disposal. This told him that he would, one, need to be very careful about what he did from now in in regards to his power. That much power in his hands was like giving a toddler access codes to nukes. He was just learning how to use his power, and if he wasn’t careful, he was sure he would cause unprecedented disaster. However, since he had such powerful familiars who where willing to teach him, he had a feeling that as long as he was careful, then there wouldn’t be much of an issue. However, he had another issue that he would need to deal with. And that was that he had the power of the previously feared _world tyrant_ in his body. No doubt the Demon Lord and Chief God would very easily recognize his power, along with any other being or creature that had been alive all those years ago. That was certainly something he would need to be careful of. Outside of all of this though, and Andrew felt that there was little else to worry about. For the next little bit, nobody really said anything, though Sarya continuing to pester Andrew about Aruma was pretty much a constant throughout. Eventually though, someone decided to initiate conversation, that person being Unoma.

“Dear master… I happen to have a question.”

Andrew looked up and over to his side where Unoma usually hovered as they traveled.

“Sure, Lay it on me.”

Not sure what he meant by that, Unoma simply took it for him telling her to go ahead.

“Alright then. I’m curious as to what your plans are after we get out of here Dear Master. As far as I’m aware, you don’t have any kind of familiarity with this nor of it’s rules and foundations.”

Andrew blinked a few times at her statement, everything that came out of her mouth absolutely true. He hadn’t been thinking of what to do after he got out of here.

Andrew nodded his head at her before he looked up at the ceiling as he continued walking.

“That is a very good question and I honestly wish I had an equally good answer for it. Sadly though, I don’t have any plans for what to do when I get out, my only goal being to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

However, Andrew heard the voice of Jonathan, which in turn caused him to turn to look at him.

“Well, if it’s alright with you, you guys can travel with us until we get to the next town. After that, you can see about getting yourselves situated and finding out what you may want or need to do from there.”

Andrew nodded his head at him before he thought about it for a moment.

“How far is it from the next town to here?”

Sarya answered that for him, causing him to look back at the elf by his side.

“The island walk should only take a few hours, though we’ll need to wait for the ferry to come pick us up after that. They drop by every two days to come pick people up and ferry them across. I haven’t really kept track of it since we’ve been down here though, so I don’t know if they’ll be here today or not. The ride itself takes a whole day itself, but after that, we’ll be in Gwent.”

Andrew nodded in understanding before he looked back at the rest of his group.

“that all right with the rest of you?”

“Of course/ It’s fine.”

Both of his familiars answered him, and he was sure that Aruma would have agreed if she was awake. However, Serena didn’t say anything, her eyes on him, but it being obvious her mind was elsewhere.

“Serena? Is that alright with you?”

“huh? What? Oh… yeah. That’s fine.”

Curious, Andrew was tempted to ask if everything was okay, but he opted to divert it to another question instead, Serenas traveling plans unknown to him.

“Actually Serena… what do you plan on doing after we get out? As far as I know, you said you’d travel with us until we escaped.”

Serena didn’t even hesitate to answer.

“Keep traveling with you. I’m from a different world remember? You guys are the only ones here that I know in this world. So, I’ll just stay with you… as for my actual plans… try to keep recovering more memories. And being close to you helps with that.”

Serena couldn’t help but cross her arms over her chest and smile smugly.

“So, guess what, your stuck with me for as long as it takes.”

Andrew only blinked a few times before he let a smile cross his face.

“is that so? Well I guess I should count myself very lucky that your staying. I get the feeling I would be pretty lonely without you here.”

Serena felt her face blush and her words stop. She then started to stammer a bit at his words, the girl confused about why him saying that was so _embarrassing_.

“St-Stupid! It’s not like I’m doing this to make you happy!”

Andrew found himself enjoying the tsundere response, but the smug look on Unoma’s face confused him while Labareda could only chuckle to herself.

“Not sure if you’re doing that purposefully master, but good job regardless… anyway, we should be out of here in an hour or so. Keep your spirits high everybody!”

The thought of finally getting out of here caused everyone to liven up a bit and increase the pace. Thankfully the last leg of the trip was just as uneventful as the last two days they had been traveling this shortcut, though it was easy to see nothing would happen considering that it had bene nothing but a straight shot from one end to the other. Eventually Sarya, with her elven eyes, saw further then anyone else the end of the passage. However, she was a little confused by what she saw. 

“So… Uh… I think I see the end of the passage… but… it looks like a straight up wall as far as I can tell.”

Everyone looked at her for a moment as if to affirm what it is they had just heard before they turned their attention to Labareda. However, she only had smug smile on her face.

“Even this late in the game and you all still doubt me? Just wait until we get there and I’ll show you.”

Knowing from experience that the demon knew more about this place then anybody else, everyone simply opted to keep quiet. Eventually they came to the very dead-end that Sarya had seen. No branching paths, no tunnels. Nothing, just a block with no place else to go. However, Morgana was the first to say something, albeit with some sarcasm mixed in.

“So, what now? You plan on kicking the wall down here as well?”

Labareda looked at the mage woman with mock shock on her features.

“What do you take me for? A barbarian? A little ol’ thing like me could never hope to break down such sturdy and thick walls.”

Everyone mentally called bullshit, but only Andrew would dare laugh at her mocking joke. Seeing that she wasn’t going to get anything out of anybody else, Labareda let out a slightly disappointed sigh.

“No, the walls here are too thick anyway. More importantly, this happens to be the location of another teleporter.”

Andrew cocked his eyebrow up in some interest.

“Really now?”

“Yes master… don’t go jumping into this one if you don’t mind.”

Andrew only laughed sheepishly at that before Serena spoke up.

“So, what? We just walk to the end of the hall and we teleport?”

“Pretty much, yeah. Everything should still be in working order. Once we get through, we should be in a secret room that should be less then an hour from the main entrance to the Labyrinth.”

Morgana, though still annoyed with the demon, couldn’t help but voice a curious question.

“I’m surprised nobody found this teleporter on the other side, even after all the years this labyrinth has been here.”

Lab looked to Morgana before she held up both hands some distance apart from each other.

“Secret. Room.” She punctuated with segmentations of those very words in midair.

With the both of them now glaring at each other, Andrew and Jonathan could only let out perfectly timed sighs. At this point, Jonathan spoke up.

“Well, if nobody has any kinds of qualms, I think I’ll go through first to check and make sure everything is alright on the other side.”

The rest of Jonathans group simply nodded in understanding, as if this was the norm for them. However, Andrew opted to speak up as well.

“Actually, I think I should go with you as well.”

Andrews group seemed a lot less inclined to agree with that idea. Labareda being the first to voice the displeasure of the idea.

“Uh, excuse me master, but I would think it would be better for you if you didn’t try to get yourself killed.”

Andrew only shook his head at her.

“Relax. I seriously doubt anything is going to happen, and personally, I feel it would be stupid to send Jonathan in alone without a little backup. Safety in numbers and all that.”

Unoma let a small sigh escape her lips.

“Yeah, but that normally only holds true when all those numbers have the ability to take care of themselves. You would be a tagalong that would require guarding. Also known as dead weight.”

Andrew couldn’t help but look at her with a less-then-pleased expression on his face.

“You’re not wrong per-se, but I feel you could have been slightly less blunt about it.”

Jonathan couldn’t help but laugh at the group before he spoke up.

“Actually, this kind of job should be handled by a rouge or a scout of sorts. But seeing as our group doesn’t have one, it’s normally best left to someone who’s fast and strong. I would actually like it if I had an extra set of eyes. I also have no doubt that your power could come in handy if the situation should go astray.”

Andrew could only smile triumphantly at the other man’s words before he looked back at his familiars.

“See. Now that that is decided, Serena, could you hold Aruma while Jonathan and I go take a look. It shouldn’t take very long.”

Serena only nodded her head before she carefully extracted the girl from Andrews back, carrying the small girl bridal style before she set her gently down on the floor. Andrew walked up next to Jonathan before he looked back at the groups.

“We should be back soon… but if we aren’t, come in after about ten minutes.”

With that established, Andrew and Jonathan walked right to the end of the corridor, where they quickly vanished from sight. For a moment, nobody said anything, but Labareda couldn’t help but say something.

“I feel like this was a bad idea.”

Xx ??? xX

Alyssa fancied herself as an Echidna of great talent and aptitude. Ever since she was able to read, she had always had the ability to easily and quickly read and understand anything she had ever been handed. This would involve anything from the usual sabbath learning material to the very complex magical tomes her mother would occasionally bring out. With such a quick learning capability, it was almost predictable that this would also extend to the magical arts as well. Able to easily understand and manipulate complex magical formulas that even her own mother, a woman of great magical aptitude, would have some small trifling difficulty with. Her mother and Father couldn’t have been prouder of their baby girl. All of this was done by the time she was eleven years old, a prodigy of her family. Imagen the surprise of her mother and father on her twenty second birthday that she wanted to become independent. At such an age, a Mamono is still considered juvenile, hardly still able to be on there own without the help and aid of doting parents. However, though her father was almost unwilling to relent, her mother saw that she needed to go and see the world, find a man who would bring out the best and show her a different kind of love. And thus, on her twenty third year of being alive in this world of hers, Alyssa had set out into the world to obtain worldly and scholarly knowledge in all things. For several years, she spent much of her time divulging into the worlds mysteries of magic and the ways of her ancestors that being that of echidnas. However, despite her great love of knowledge and magic, on her twenty seventh year of life (still being considered very young by mamono of the long-lived variety) she came to a resounding soul shaking realization.

“God I’m lonely.”

It was with these words that Alyssa had made into a mantra of sorts over the years. Sadly, she had yet to fulfill the original origin of those words. Letting out a long sigh, the echidna leaned back into a particularly comfy long couch that she used for occasions when she was mentally at her weakest. It had been nine years since that realization, now thirty-six (an age that would be just barely outside of a mamonos younger teens) she could only feel the weight of that crushing loneliness once again. As an Echidna, she knew what she needed to do traditionally, and as far as she knew, she had done wonderfully in her own eyes. Find an unoccupied dungeon, set up traps and whatnot for her worthy potential other and wait for them to show up. However, that had been well over nine years ago when she had done this. At first, she had waited patiently for any potential candidates. However, that hope soon gave way to a realization. Said realization was that she had perhaps made her hideout a little to hard to find. Not once had anybody managed to find the entrance to her makeshift section of the Shadow Labyrinth, her being far too intimidated by the powerful energies of the deeper sections to dare attempt to set up base there. But she thought that she had at least made it manageable. Letting out a low sigh, she looked to the interior of her chambers, more specifically, at her mirror. Staring back at her was a familiar sight, one she had grown used to and comfortable with in her many years down here.

The usual traits of the Echidna race could be found in her, light blue skin, long greenish-blue serpentine lower half, piercing and intelligent golden eyes along with the aqua green colored hair. However, it was only at that that she was similar. Unlike many other kinds of mamono, Alyssa was thinner and streamline in terms of body type. She didn’t share any of the curves her mother had generous amounts of, nor was her bust exceedingly large. If anything, it was tiny, only coming out to barely cup-able. She brought her thin hands up to her bust and gently squeezed. It was one of her less admired treats personally, but she couldn’t complain about genetics. Her face didn’t look anything like her mothers sadly. Where her mother had seductive and soft features to her own, Alyssa had taken more heavily after her zipangu oriented father. More sanpaku like eyes and thin eyebrows with an expression that looked disinterested most of the time. Her hair was short and straight, unlike her mothers who liked to keep it long and wavy. All in all, a more subdued beauty. Letting out a long sigh, she got up off her couch and looked at herself in the mirror for a moment longer before a pout came over her face.

“I think I’m sexy enough to warrant _some_ effort out of people. Sure, I’m not drop dead Gorgeous like my mother or young sisters, but I’m a certain kind of cute at least…”

With no one to answer that for her, the snake woman could only mentally chastise herself once again for talking to herself in the mirror. Though admittedly, it was all she really had outside of her magical studies. Deciding to indulge in her own self talk for a bit more, Alyssa wound her long body around herself in a large self body hug.

“I wonder what someone would think of me if he did see me… maybe they would be smitten with me the moment they lay their eyes on me? Would they want to embrace me warmly? Or maybe pin me to the floor and ravage me wildly? I think either option is good my my opinion… but I personally am a fan of the first option. But I guess that would really depend on the man who made it here… would he be tall? Or short like my father? Maybe burly? He would have to be strong to make it through the creatures and traps this place offers…”

For a moment, she continued to contemplate over hypothetical what ifs and maybe this’s for a few minutes before she suddenly felt something in her room change. For a moment, she wasn’t sure what it was, but then it hit her. She hadn’t expected it at all, not today of all days, but here it was.

Someone had just teleported in the chamber outside her door. Almost unable to even comprehend what it was that was going on, she almost didn’t move for a good few seconds before her mind suddenly hit it into overdrive.

“Ohmagoshohmagoshohmagosh… someone is actually here!” 

Checking to make sure that she, along with the room, was in proper order, Alyssa double checked to make sure that whoever it was wasn’t about to walk in when she wasn’t ready. Taking a few deeps breaths, she set herself in down on her couch in the most commanding way she could, the echidna willed both her heart and her mind to steady. However, they would only see her at her best after all, they had obviously worked hard to get here and it would be discourteous of her to not show the proper amount of respect for that hard work. Taking one last deep breath, she waited.

Meanwhile, Andrew and Jonathan where busy looking at the large stone door that stood in there way. Though door was something of a subjective term based on the fact that it mostly looked like two large slabs smashed together. Jonathan let a low hum escape his lips for the third time in the last minute they had been in here.

“Are you sure you checked the room for any kind of lever?”

Andrew nodded his head.

“Yup. Double checked and triple checked. This place isn’t very big after all, and it can’t hide anything considering there is nothing to hide with. I’m telling you it’s gotta be a magic door.”

Jonathan only shook his head.

“No, I can’t detect any magic from it at all. It either needs to be opened with sheer brute strength or with some kind of mechanism. I would rule out brute strength right out due to the size.”

“Well, we could try it first to see if that’s the case.”

Jonathan thought about it for a second before he simply shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess we could. I’ll take the right and you take the left?”

“Fine with me.”

Doing as they agreed, both men moved to either side of the two slabs. Wedging their fingers between the hand-width crack, they both looked to each other to see if the other was ready. Not needing anymore confirmation then that, they both turned to look at the task at hand.

“Alright Jonathan, you ready?”

“I am.”

“Alright, aaaaaaaaaaand… go!”

With that, both young men pushed with all there might and surprisingly, the slabs moved out of the way very easily. When they stopped applying pressure to the slabs, they stayed in place, allowing both young men to look at them in more detail. Andrew was the first to notice that the slabs where attached to some kind of track on the wall. This made it easy for them to move. Humming to himself curiously, Andrew nodded his head lightly.

“Huh… guess it’s a kind of sliding door.”

Jonathan could only hum in agreement.

After that, both young man walked into the room, determining if what was beyond the door was in fact safe. However, the moment they both walked beyond the threshold of the door, the room became brighter, but not bright enough to blind them. A voice then called out in front of them.

“Welcome hero! You have traveled far and delved deep into the shadow labyrinth to find my… wait… are there two of you?”

Both young men, curious about this voice, looked at its point of origin. They found a snake woman sitting atop an adorned couch of sorts, having been laying on her own coils in a regal manner… or she had been until she had noticed two people in her home. Looking to each other, Jonathan was the first to speak up.

“Yes, there are two of us.”

For a moment, Alyssa failed to say anything. But it only lasted for as long as thought could process.

“I… see… That was not expected.”

She had lost her regal like air as she stared at both people. However, Andrew was the first to recover his sense.

“So… Uh… Nice to meet you? I guess? My name is Andrew by the way. This is Jonathan.”

The echidna didn’t say anything at first, but she quickly rectified that.

“I see… Welcome Adventurers Andrew and Jonathan. My name is Alyssa, the master and keeper of this small and modest part of the labyrinth. I congratulate the both of you on making it here past my traps and puzzles. No easy feat for a whole party of adventurers, even more impressive if done by just two very handsome men.”

Andrew didn’t miss the look of excitement in her eyes, but her face remained rather neutral. However, eh felt he had to say something about that.

“Actually… I get the feeling we didn’t come in the right way. We actually just came from another part of the labyrinth much deeper in that connected to a secret passage.”

“Huh?”

Alyssa wasn’t sure if she heard him right and thus let out an odd noise.

“Wait… did you come in from the secret path I set up on my teleporter? The one that leads to that horrible room filled to the brim with all kinds of malicious energy?”

Jonathan nodded his head in answer.

“yes, we did.”

Alyssa found herself momentarily speechless. She had originally set that up in the event something tried to do her harm, and by making it look like she was escaping out the main entrance, she knew she would lose any pursuers by giving them the slip. But she had never thought someone would actually come from that way, thus why she never set it up be locked from that side. She quickly regained her posture though and looked at them both.

“That’s… actually even more impressive then getting through my traps. If what you say is true and that path does lead deeper into the labyrinth, then you have no doubt earned your right to be hear… and to the reward I would promise to those who make it to me.”

Jonathan spoke up when she got done.

“Um, actually, we just happen to be looking for the-”

Andrew quickly cut him off before he could finish his sentence. 

“We would love to have this reward you just so happen to be offering up! Been drudging around in the belly of the Labyrinth for a few weeks now, so I think it would be nice to get something out of it.”

Jonathan looked at him in a confused manner, but eh sound of Alyssas voice brought there attention back to the blue skinned woman.

“Understood… but… well… there is a problem in regards to me giving this reward…”

“why? Is this one of those things where we have to fight you to get it?”

“Oh, no. Nothing as ridiculous as that… no… it more comes in the facet of quantity… you see, the reward I was offering was to… well… for me to become the designated individuals wife… and… since there’s two of you…”

The Echidna couldn’t help but scratch at her cheek in an embarrassed manner, her regal appearance disappearing behind the face of a rather embarrassed woman.

“I will admit that I had not thought of this scenario myself… its quite a large blunder on my part.”

Andrew thought about it for a moment before he spoke up again.

“Well… what do you think you should normally do in this scenario?”

“Well… I guess… ask if either one of you wants to be my husband? Barring that, knock you out and take the one I like the most while giving the other one to one of my younger siblings, though I like to think I’m a little more diplomatic then that.”

Andrew and Jonathan both looked to each other for a moment, an unspoken conversation happening between the two of them. Eventually it became a spoken conversation.

“So Jonathan… you interested in a wife?”

“Ehhhhhhhhhh… well… not to say that she isn’t an attractive young lady… but at the same time, I still have my duties as a Hero to perform, so I couldn’t be tied down here. How about you Andrew? Are you interested in a wife?”

“My statements are about the same as yours here Jonathan.”

They then looked back at Alyssa, who only had a resigned expression on her face.

“I somewhat figured that would be the general response. Frankly I’m not even mad at this point. I figured this would happen since two of you came in… _sigh_ … I guess I shouldn’t have picked such a difficult place to hide out in…”

Seeing her defeated expression, Andrew couldn’t help but feel about.

“Well… I mean… if one does become your husband, do they have to stay here all the time?”

Curiously looking at him, she shook her head.

“Of course not. What kind of monster keeps someone locked up in their own home? I wouldn’t even mind relocating to a better home. Ten years of being in this place does wear on the mind after all.”

Andrew then looked back at Jonathan, a big grin on his face.

“How about now?”

The blonde man only gave Andrew a cross look.

“I’m not looking to get married this early.”

“Okay, how about concubine if you have someone already?”

“You’re not listening to me Andrew! For that fact, why don’t you? You seem eager enough to have several women love you.”

Andrew thought about it for a moment before he answered him.

“I actually wouldn’t mind it that much, but I like to get to know someone first before I decide on marriage. Not only that, but I don’t have a home to relocate to.”

The echidna watched them back and forth for a moment before she let out a low sigh.

“It’s alright. Really. You both have things you need to do outside of this place. Though I do appreciate your concern.”

Andrew looked back at her, still feeling bad about how he and Jonathan seemed to be throwing the issue back and forth like this.

“Well… I guess neither one of us are willing to get married… but… would it make you feel better if we offered to have sex?”

At that, Jonathan and the Echidna looked at him in surprise, Alyssa speaking up in a surprised tone.

“You’re… awfully forward aren’t you? … but I can’t say I dislike it.’

Jonathan gave Andrew a kind of stare.

“Andrew! What are you doing?!”

“What? I feel its only fair that we offer her some kind of compensation for intruding at least. Who knows how long she’s been down here for?”

“Ten years, you two being the first to actually make it.”

“Thank you. See Jonathan, the first set of guys she’s had in ten years and we both up and refuse. How’s that for dashing hopes and dreams huh?”

Jonathan let out a rough sigh at him, some frustration on his face.

“I get that you feel bad about it, but at the same time, why are you including me as well? I really couldn’t care if you did it, but I’m not really that into the multiple sexual partners thing that a lot of people favor.”

Andrew hummed a little bit at that before he looked back over at Alyssa.

“Sorry, my friend here seems to be keeping himself off the table. A real pity to since he’s such a looker in the male looks department.”

The Echidna couldn’t help but nod in agreement with the male’s statement.

“I concur. If anything, his appearance is more my type. No offense to you of course.”

Andrew only shook his head.

“None taken. Anyway, I’m sure your eager to get this started, so let me stop being rude and allow myself the pleasure of giving you some small satisfaction.”

Oddly enough, the echidna only seemed to blush at his words but she didn’t dislike it at all. Walking over to where she was laying, Andrew took a moment to examine her body up and down, enjoying the lithe look of her body behind the two cloth wraps around her modest bust. However, he wasn’t here to integrating himself and smiled at her.

“I’ll let you take charge of the situation seeing as I want you to enjoy this as much as possible.”

Feeling a flush on her face at the levels of deference he was giving her, Alyssa only nodded at him before she managed to slither her way off her couch. Taking a moment to circle around him in some parts examination and others thought, the echidna looked him up and down, his odd clothing making it hard to see what his body might look like. Letting out a low breath, she issued her first command.

“Take it all off.”

Without hesitation, Andrew removed all of his articles of clothing, the young echidna amazed at the number of layers he seemed to have on. Eventually, Andrew stood bare before her, his clothing neatly piled up and folded away from him. Now that she had a better look at him, she had to admit that though he wasn’t her preferred type, she did find she could enjoy his looks in a sexual way. He certainly looked as if he put effort in making himself strong, and the fact that she wanted to be embraced with those arms only told her that she really did look forward to this. Slithering closer, Alyssa didn’t hesitate in running a hand over his chest, it being very obvious that Andrew didn’t seem to have a problem being touched nor of being exposed in such a manner. Continuing this trend for a moment, Alyssa ran her hand over other parts of his body, seemingly fascinated with him. It wasn’t as if she had never seen a man naked before, but she had to admit that her father was the only male she had ever seen as such. In all of this time, Alyssa had spent more of her attention on magical studies, thus having neglected any relationships she could have had. However, words from the male in front of her caused her to pause.

“As lovely as it is to be touched by such an attractive woman, would you mind terribly if I did the same with you?”

She had to think on that one for a moment, but she felt her blush creep back onto her face.

“I don’t mind… go ahead… though do forgive me as this will be my first time engaging in a sexual act with a man… I feel my experience will be somewhat… lacking.”

Andrew only smiled at her before he placed his hands on her shoulders, gently removing the cloth bindings hiding her breasts.

“It’s fine. We all have to start somewhere after all. I’ll help you out as we go.”

Drawing himself closer to her, Alyssa felt her cheeks flush deeper when Andrews face cake up next to hers, where he then planted a kiss on her lips. It was quick, but it had been warm and inviting to her. Not sure what she might need to do, Alyssa opted to let Andrew do as he should. Seeing her lack of action, Andrew decided to see the limits of what she would allow him to get away with, thus he began to gently run his hands across the smooth expanse of her skin. Unlike Unoma or Labareda, her skin felt cooler to the touch, not only that, but her skin had the strange sensation of smooth skin and glossy scales as well. It made for a unique sense and was very pleasant to his sense of touch. Wanting to feel a little more, Andrew moved his hands to her breasts. This really didn’t feel any different, but he couldn’t help but notice her embarrassed look.

Deciding to be gentle, Andrew squeezed her breasts and began to kneed them like a small lump of dough in each hand. Alyssa could start to feel it now, the beginning of her lust building in her body, but it was still manageable.

“I guess you must like the way I feel considering your hands like to touch my scales.”

Andrew noticed that he had been focusing more on the scaled bits around her breasts rather then on the soft flesh or nipple itself. Feeling himself smile sheepishly, Andrew decided to focus more on pleasuring her.

“Sorry, your skin is very unique to me, so I couldn’t help but want to explore it a bit.”

Enjoying that praise, Alyssa suddenly had an idea.

“I see… well… if you enjoy the sensation of my scales so much…”

Without finishing her sentence, the echidna moved away from him and began to gently move around him, coiling herself around him in a full body embrace, her coils pressing his body against hers. Andrew had felt a little nervous when she had coiled herself around him, his mind going to images of pythons crushing their prey, but this was more like a full body hug then a life ending embrace. She allowed him full reign of his arms and some movement, but he could feel her heat against his. Looking around himself curiously, Andrew looked back to her and he could see she was somewhat embarrassed about being so close, her face just a little below his chin as she looked up at him.

“Well… I will admit, this is very nice in its own way…”

Moving his arms to embrace her upper half, Andrew slid his hands along the coutures of her body and down her back until he eventually placed them on her ass.

“Your somewhat thin, aren’t you?”

Feeling some embarrassment of another variety come into her chest, Alyssa looked away for a moment.

“It comes from my father’s side… he said the woman from his homeland never got very big and that I seemed to have obtained those traits myself…”

Andrew only squeezed again, causing her to let out a small yelp of surprise.

“It’s not an issue if you thought I was complaining. I actually rather like thin girls myself.”

Andrew brought his head over her shoulder, where he then gave her a kiss on the neck, all while still fondling her ass. Alyssa had to admit that she wasn’t very used to a guy like this, one who seemed very affectionate in touchy feely. She didn’t dislike it though, especially since the state of her body seemed to have aroused him enough for his recently flaccid penis to become quite hard and pressed against her stomach. Pulling away from her for a moment, Andrew looked up and down her front half curiously, the girl letting yet another blush form on her face.

“W-What is it?”

Taking note of where her snake half meets her humanoid upper torso, Andrew let a curious look come over his face.

“Just a little curious, but where’s your pussy? I’ve never slept with a lamia-”

She stopped him right there with an annoyed look on her face.

“Echidna. Despite our serpentine origins, Lamias and echidnas are still different on a very basic structure.”

Andrew slowly nodded at her.

“Understood, I won’t forget it… but back to what I was going to say. I’m having a hard time trying to find where your vagina located.”

Letting the annoyance fall from her face, Alyssa covered where her pelvic region was.

“That would be because most mamono have the unique ability to cover its more delicate parts with natural ability or with magic. Mine being a combination of the two. See?”

Andrew watched her remove her hands and was surprised to see that the scales had moved themselves out of the way to reveal a much softer and moist mound, her slit leaking lightly to indicate her arousal. Andrew reached down and gently ran his fingers over it, the girl shuddering at the light brushing.

“Huh… fascinating…”

With those two words out of his mouth, Andrew continued on with pleasuring her, one of his hands gently stroking and caressing her wet sex while his other hand went behind her back and brought her in close for another kiss, this time on her delicate looking lips. Alyssa, not denying him that, let it happen. However, she was not excepting him to put his tongue into her mouth, the girl not having expected that action. Thankfully she had some confidence in this and returned his kiss with one of her own, this time forcing her much longer and more prehensile tongue into his mouth.

Andrew had been surprised by it to say the least, but he wasn’t going to stop his momentum. For the next minute or two, the two of them continued to kiss deeply as Andrews hands worked on other parts of her body. During this, Alyssa had worked up enough nerve to start stroking his dick, the kissing and mutual masturbation making for quite a show as Jonathan tried his best to keep a straight face. His face was straight to be sure, but it was very forced, and the blush was a very easy indicator that he was highly embarrassed by this. Even more easily to see was the tent in his pants. Jonathan had normally done his very best to keep away from things of a sexual nature, but sometimes he would come across situations like these and then even he couldn’t help his male nature. Andrew couldn’t help but peek over at Jonathan, the look of forced calm on his face only causing Andrew to internally laugh. However, he stopped looking when he felt Alyssa suddenly tense up, her coils tightening up on him as what he guessed to be her orgasm lanced throughout her whole body. It was only confirmed when he felt the walls of her vagina clamp down on his fingers, stopping him from extracting them. For a moment, she stayed that way, though Andrew was finding it a bit hard to breath with how tightly she had wrapped herself around him. It didn’t last forever, and eventually she loosened up… in both her outer coils, and her inner walls, allowing Andrew to extract his fingers from her dripping cunt. Andrew also couldn’t help but look down and see the imprint of her scales on his skin. Grinning to himself as the girl leaned against his shoulders with some heavy panting, Andrew embraced her a little more tightly.

“Well, Glad to see one of us managed to get off in this situation.”

For a moment she didn’t say anything, the feeling of her recent orgasm still filling body. But eventually what he said did in fact process in her mind and she felt her face flush in embarrassment rather then arousal.

“I-I’m sorry, I’ve not done with with a male before, so I was a little unprepared… a little pitiful on my part truth be told…”

Andrew simply smiled again before he put his hand on her head and began to gently stroke the back of her head in a loving manner.

“It’s fine. I was like that the first time as well… nothing to be embarrassed about… but… are you willing to get to the main part of this little love making, or did you want to put it on hold?”

Pulling herself back, Alyssa shook her head before she diverted her attention to his pelvis, her eyes zeroing in on his enlarged member that was pressed against her stomachs.

“I’m good… but if you don’t mind… I would like to do the work this time.”

Andrew only nodded at her.

“That’s fine, though only if you don’t mind my hands working a little with this body of yours. I can’t get enough of the touch.”

Feeling a small smile creep on her face from the complement, the Echidna nodded.

“I don’t mind at all… though if you don’t mind my saying… that’s an impressive member you have on you.”

Curious, Andrew looked down at his dick to see what she was on about and he found himself A little confused by what he saw.

“Huh… I guess your right… was that always like that?”

He didn’t remember his dick being quite that large or thick in the past, the size and shape looking somewhat different from the last time he got a good look at it. He didn’t get a chance to think about it much longer before Alyssa took his dick in her hand and directed it to her anticipating slit, the snake woman bringing her body closer before his tip was pressed against her entrance. Andrew felt the warmth of her body against his tip and was eager to thrust into her with the eagerness of a beast, but he healed back since she wanted a little more control this time. He didn’t need to wait long though, as she seemed to forgo any kind of ease and instead let a determined look come over her face before she embraced him tightly for a moment before she plunged the whole of his length straight into her sex. Andrew almost lost his load right then and there at the sheer speed and tightness she forced onto him, causing his hands to grip at her hips in some mental comfort to stop him from embarrassing himself. However, the same could not be said of her, as he felt her the walls of her ribbed pussy clenching around his dick in a second orgasm in under a minute. Feeling those walls convulse around his dick caused him to loose the torrent held back in his balls, his seed spilling out into her womb with the force of a dam unleashed. For a moment, the both of them only stood there, the coils around Andrews body the only thing keeping the both of them up at the moment as they held onto each other in their culminated bliss. Eventually though they managed to come out of there current state, the both of them flushed from arousal and embarrassment. Alyssa was the first to speak up.

“I’m… sorry… I ended up coming far to quickly… just by putting it in… that’s rather disgraceful of me…”

Andrew could only laugh sheepishly as well, though he leaned in and gave her kiss on the lips delicately.

“It’s fine… in case you couldn’t feel it, I pretty much did the exact same thing… I’ve been in a few girls before myself, but yours has to be one of the betters one my dick has had the pleasure of being in.”

“I hope your not saying that hers is better then my own Dear Master, Labareda I could concede, but to an Echidna you just met? You wound my pride as a woman and as your familiar if that’s the case.”

Surprising the both of them, Andrew and Alyssa looked over to see that the rest of the party had managed to arrive as well, Lab and Unoma looking cross about what he said while Morgana only looked cross in general. Sarya was observing the situation with several hints of amusement but with a great deal of jealousy. Jonathan was covering the eyes of the young Aruma while Serena was covering the girl ears, the male looking happy that it was over while Serena only looked conflicted about the whole thing. Not letting it get to him, Andrew only waved at the group.

“Oh hey, happy you guys could join in. Has it been ten minutes already? It’s so easy to lose track of time when your having fun.”

Sarya chuckled to herself.

“So I see… are you done yet though? We need to get going.”

Andrew only cocked his head to the side curiously as he hugged the echidna closer, an action that surprised Alyssa and annoyed Labareda and Unoma.

“But we haven’t found the exit yet.”

At that, the Echidna pushed him away gently as she began to unwind herself from around him.

“Actually the way to leave is the way you came. Just go back through the magic sigil on this side and it will drop you off at the start of my dungeon.”

Labareda looked slightly annoyed, as if she was about to explain that very thing, but she didn’t say anything. Andrew nodded his thanks to her.

“Huh… well I guess I didn’t have to do this… but I’m more then willing to do this with you at any time… unless you happen to want a go Jonathan.”

With an annoyed blush on his face, the blonde only kept Arumas eyes covered so that she wouldn’t have to see this spectacle of nudity.

“I’m _fine_ thank you very much.”

Andrew only looked back at Alyssa with a sheepish grin.

“Well, I tried at least.”

With only a little giggle as her response, Andrew could tell that she was done for the time being, and thus he started to get himself dressed, though he felt he could have gone another round with her. After getting dressed, Andrew reunited with his group, upon which Aruma was allowed to see and hear her surroundings again. At that point, the group was ready to go, Andrew pretty satisfied with his recent sexual escapade and Alyssa also rather content with what she got out of it, though Unoma and Labareda made promises that there would be ‘conversations’ later with the both of them. The hidden meaning was not lost on him. Before they left though, Alyssa stopped him.

“Ah… before you go… I wanted to give you something.”

Turning back to look at her, she held out her hand, where a sigil then appeared in midair. Curious, Andrew held his hand out to it, but upon touching it, it seemed to meld into his right hand with the rest of the symbols on his arm. Rolling up his sleeve, Andrew could see that his markings had a new addition to them. Not sure what it was about, he turned his attention back to her with a quizzical look in his eyes.

“It’s a marking for warping… to this place specifically. If you ever felt like you’d like to visit for any reason… well… just trace that mark into a surface and then you can warp straight here… you’ll be able to warp right back, I promise.”

Noticing the slightly bashful look in her eyes, Andrew couldn’t help but smile at her. He then walked over and gave her a hug.

“Sure, I’ll drop by for a visit every once in a while. I’m sure it gets lonely down here. I’ll see if I can’t rope Jonathan into coming as well next time.”

Jonathan could only roll his eyes at the remark, but Alyssa only smiled again before she embraced him back with equal warmth. The hug itself only lasted a few more moments before the sound of an annoyed Unoma caused him to pull away. With one final farewell, Andrew and his group made its way back to the other room. Just as Alyssa had said, the moment they walked into the teleportation ruin, they warped without delay into a new place. Labareda let a knowing grin cross her face before she moved to the front of the group.

“Excellent! Granted we don’t run into anymore pretty girls that Master would like to bed, we should be out of her within the next few hours.”

Andrew only gave her a half-hearted look of annoyance, but only let out a small sigh.

“I’ll try not to.”

With that little bit of comedy out of the way, the group was underway, everyone’s steps filled with the eagerness of escape. It wasn’t until about an hour in when everyone started to slow down a little, the pace a little fast for Everyone in general. But with this slowing in speed, allowed everyone to impatience of thoughts of escape from this dreary place. So in an attempt to put it away for a moment, everyone thought about other things, though not all of them thought of more pleasing topics. Serena was one of those who found her thoughts wandering to other things, those thoughts causing her to furrow her brow in some parts concentration, and others frustration. Sarya, being one of the ones who watched her the closest, found her deep concentration to be somewhat concerning. Pushing herself to the back with her friend, she started talking in a low voice.

“What’s on your mind?”

Serena only glanced at her elven friend for a moment before she only shrugged her shoulders.

“Nothing.”

“Really? Because you sure seem to be worrying about a lot of nothing. That or your trying to look menacing. You’ve been like that since we left the Echidnas room.”

Serena only looked at her feet as she walked, the both of them only listening to other forms of conversation before Sarya took a pretty accurate guess as to what her friend was thinking about.

“Is it about Andrew again?”

Serena’s face flushed as quickly as the words left her mouth.

“N-no!”

“Ah… I see.”

“I just said no! How does that confirm anything?!”

“In my culture, no means yes, and yes means _harder._ ”

Serena gave her a deadpan look.

“I’m not sure I want to know what your talking about right this second.”

“You’ll find out in time. Anyway, stop denying it, you know it’s true.”

Letting out a long drawn out sigh filled with frustration, Serena only brought her attention back to her with an equally long drawn out glare.

“Okay, let’s say for the sake of argument that that was true.”

“Not for the sake of argument if its true.”

“Shut up. Anyway, hypothetically speaking, I do in fact find myself thinking about him.”

Sarya, having way too much fun with this, only grinned at her.

“Then I will hypothetically ask you if those thoughts happen to be those of ‘why am I thinking about him and why do I feel annoyed after seeing him with a girl he just met’. long glare for yes, short glare for no.”

“How is that even an answer.”

“You’re still glaring, I knew I was right.”

Letting out a frustrated grunt, Serena only turned away, intent on ignoring the elf for the time being. However, Sarya was not to be ignored.

“Sorry sorry… but you’ve been like this for a while you know. In answer to your question, that’s probably jealousy. I mean, you’ve known Unoma and Labareda for a while, so it’s makes sense that you would be comfortable with them in regards to Andrew. But some woman you’ve never met before is getting some action from a guy you like. And you’ve not even had your turn yet!”

For a moment, Serena could only look at her friend with a bewildered look on her face.

“So your saying… I want him to have sex with me.”

“If it takes me telling you this to get you to realize that, then yes, you like him.”

“I said sex, not like.”

“Basically the same thing in mamono culture.”

Serena left it at that, Sarya only nodding her head in a smug fashion at her. But she couldn’t help but pick the useful bits of information out of the rest of what she had said. Maybe she was starting to like him. It wasn’t like she hated him or anything, him being a very comforting presence for her. She certainly didn’t feel that way with Jonathan, the guy being an acquaintance at best. But Serena couldn’t help but think that maybe she was just mentally rushing into it, after all, she had only ever met two guys in this whole world. And Unoma seemed to like her to some extent, so maybe she wasn’t just limited to guys either. But she would keep what Sarya said in mind, Serena not being entirely negligent of her feelings.

After the both of them got done, it was a quiet rest of the trip, the group having come across the section that kept this place hidden from the rest of the labyrinth (and easily smashing through it thanks to one smug Labareda). Eventually, they got to a point that Jonathan’s group recognized, indicating that the exit was very close by. After Jonathan had said that, Andrew let out a relived sigh.

“Thank. God.”

Serena also did much the same thing.

“Tell me about it.”

Labareda could only nuzzle herself close to Andrew, the demon familiar looking smug as she smiled at him.

“See. I told you I would get you out of here quickly. Now give me affection and tell me I’m a good girl.”

Chuckling to himself at her eagerness for his attention, Andrew did just that by gently stroking the top of her head as they walked.

“Yes yes, you’re a wonderful familiar who is quite deserving of all my love and affection.”

With a continued look of smug on her face, Labareda only closed her eyes as she received well deserved head pats, Unoma only looking on in mild annoyance that she wasn’t getting any herself. In fact, even Aruma looked at Andrews affection with some longing in her eyes. Serena, who was carrying the girl on her back, only chuckled at her before spoke up.

“I’ll do the same for you when we get a chance to sit down.”

Aruma only nodded her head and gave her a signature ‘Nh’ in response.

Morgana, who had been paying attention to where they had been going (she had taken up the role of guide at this point since Labareda told them that even Jonathan’s mage should be useful at this point) spoke up when she notice a particular turn up ahead.

“Look alive everyone. The exit will be just around that corner there. Ser Jonathan, you still have the key on you?”

The blonde male reached into the pouch on his side and pulled out an unusual stone marble of sorts.

“Of course.”

“Excellent. Now, before we go blindly charging outside, we are going to need to have everyone get used to sunlight again. Jonathan and the rest of us having been down here for almost two months and the rest of you being being down here for at least three weeks. Maybe more.”

Andrew only nodded his head.

“Sounds like a good idea. How are we going to do that though?”

“Easy. I’m going to go to the door, and open it a little at a time so that our eyes can adjust. You all stay back pretty far, especially Sarya since your eyes are far more sensitive.”

Everyone only agreed before they rounded the corner. Just like the only other door Andrew had ever seen down here, at the end of the hall was an equally large and imposing door, though this one lacked the murals and artwork that depicted the warnings that the sealing rooms did. After taking the ‘key’ from Jonathan, Morgana made her way the door and seemed to fiddle with it for a moment or two. Andrew wasn’t sure what she had been doing since her body covered the view, but the sound of stone grating against stone told him all he needed to know about if she succeeded or not. Squinting his eyes in the event of the inevitable sun blast to his eyes, Andrew along with everyone else could only wait. However, Morgana only peeked for. A moment before she let out a slightly surprised sound.

“Huh… well that was not expected.”

Jonathan, being closer to her, opted to ask the question everyone now had in mind.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean it looks like I made you prepare for nothing.”

Not sure what she was on about, Morgana only moved out of the way as if to show what she was talking about. It only took everyone a moment to realize that there was no sunlight peeking through. In actuality, it was a much paler light. Sarya instantly realized what the situation was.

“Ah… so it’s night then.”

With that statement, everyone could see what she was talking about. The door opened up even more to reveal the moonlit night, though even that still caused everyone to squint just a little bit. Jonathan group made it’s way out after a moment of adjusting, But Andrew and his own group hesitated. Though that was only because Andrew was hesitating to walk out. Noticing his sudden uncertainty, Labareda walked up next to him and tapped him on the arm.

“Everything alright master?”

Andrew looked over at her before he simply nodded his head.

“Yeah… I mean, I’ve been down here for a while now, but it really hasn’t hit me until now that I’m in a whole new place and world, so I guess that realization just started to get me was all.”

Only smiling at him, Labareda only put s paw on his arm and pat him fondly.

“Well, don’t worry to much about it. Whatever may come out here in this world, I promise that I’ll always be here with you every steps of the way.”

For a moment, Andrew only looked at her, her devotion to him astounding even after so many weeks together. All he could do was smile in the face of her faithfulness to him. However, a huff from Unoma made him turn around to look at her.

“I’ll also be there, you know, in case you forgot about me. I’m equally as tenacious in my love for you Dear Master.”

Labareda only chuckled in a smug manner.

“To his dick maybe.”

“I won’t deny thats about forty percent of my reason.”

Andrew only laughed at that, but Serena walking past only caused him to look at her as she looked past the winged girl on her back.

“Y’all are free to stand here and jabber at each other until the sun comes up, but I can’t stand the smell of this dusty old ruin any more.”

With that spoken, she did just as she said and started toward the door. Andrew only gave his familiar a glance before he followed suite, his freedom obtained and the door to this strange new world offering him more then he could ever imagine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback appreciated


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Andrew let out a low breath as he hesitantly stepped over the threshold of the door before him, the moonlight making it easy for him to see the stone steps that went upward. This was going to be his first steps outside, even if he was below ground level at the moment, and suddenly his mind was filled with uncool things like tripping or being surprised by something random or foreign. His desire to not look like a fool in front of both his familiars along with the two otherworlders in his group made him steel himself to push past his initial issue and take that step outside. As would be expected on a physical level, nothing happened… and not so oddly enough, nothing happened emotionally either. It was just a step, though he was sure anybody else would have felt something, he didn’t.

“Maybe I’m expecting too much?”

“About what Master?”

“Oh nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Deciding not to ponder on it anymore, Andrew made his way outward and up the twelve steps that separated his view of solid land. Getting to the top of the steps was easy enough, but the view at night was somewhat lacking due to poor lighting of the forested area around them. Only the moonlight was shining, so he had a slightly hard time seeing anything past the dark tree line, though from the looks of it, Jonathan’s group where at a grassy clearing area, where they already had a fire set up. Oddly enough, they where sitting outside what looked to be a stone hut of sorts that looked as if it would hold a small party comfortably. Making his way over (the rest of the group following him) Andrew looked around for a bit while letting his eyes stay on the thing behind them for a moment longer.

“So I take it we’ll have to stay here for the night? Or at least until the sun rises?”

Sarya nodded her head as a sigh echoed from her mouth.

“Yeah… we didn’t think it would be night when we got out. That means our sleeping pattern is messed up now so we’ll have to see about fixing it. We also don’t know if the ferry comes tomorrow or not, so we’ll have to set out first thing when we wake up.”

Andrew nodded in understanding.

“Makes sense. But won’t we need someone on look out to keep track of the coming morning?”

Labareda spoke up at that.

“I can do that. Unlike humans, I don’t need sleep or rest so long as I have sufficient magical energy. Which I do thanks to my master’s generous donations.”

A lewd grin crossed her face, Andrew only rolling his eyes at her sexual statement. 

“Well since we have that sorted out… I guess we should try to force ourselves to go to sleep at this point… but before that, I’m going to need to go take a quick piss. I’ll be back in a few.”

Jonathan spoke up just as Andrew got up.

“I would suggest you take someone with you. We may be out of the labyrinth, but the forest surrounding us is also home to monsters as well. Though many of them are not dangerous by themselves, they have far more superior night vision in comparison of humans, so they can catch you unaware.”

Andrew had to admit that Jonathan did make some sense, but before anybody could suggest anything, he pointed out somebody.

“Serena, mind coming with me?”

The twin-tail, who had just set a sleepy looking Aruma down, turned to look at him in surprise.

“M-me? Why me? Take someone else with you, that’s weird. You enjoy somebody watching you piss or something?”

Andrew only shook his head.

“Of my many fetishes, that is not amongst them. I just felt you and I need to have a little bonding session is all.”

“While you piss.”

“We can’t pick and choose the moments fate ordains to us.”

Rolling her eyes at him, Serena only thought about it for a moment before she sighed.

“Fiiiine. Your pretty defenseless anyway, so I might as well go with you. But make it quick okay?”

“No promises, but I’ll do what I can.”

Only sighing in exasperation, Serena followed along with Andrew, not aware of the two familiars who where grinning at them. When they entered the tree line and thus out of earshot, they turned to each other.

“Longer then ten minutes and there fucking, agreed?”

“Agreed. Who do you want to bet will initiate it?”

Labareda thought about it before she grinned at the dark mage.

“Serena. She’s been holding back for a while, she has to be nearing her breaking point. A chance alone with him with his dick out? She can’t resist if she’s as far gone as I think she is.”

“A good choice, but my money is on Dear Master. He’ll probably tempt her with something, bringing her to that point.”

The both of them speculated like the dirty old woman they were for a few moments longer, leaving Jonathan and his group curious about what they where on about. Back with Andrew and Serena, they had gone a little way off from the clearing they had been in, but still in sight of the fire that warmed the group. Serena, who was somewhat annoyed by the whole thing, could only huff in frustration.

“Make it quick. I don’t want to be out here more then necessary.”

“I’ll try, but I make no promises. Try not to listen in too intently okay?”

He couldn’t see it, but Serena was giving him an annoyed look. Feeling that he may end up pushing it with anymore then this, Andrew simply did as he said he had come to do. However, in the middle of that biological relief, he heard a voice in his head that he had not been expecting. That voice being of a character that had helped him out in the sealing chamber naught but a while ago.

_‘Do you hear me young man?’_

Andrew could only sigh to himself.

**_‘You have the most unusual timing you know that? But I kinda figure you would be trying to contact me soon enough… leviathan was it?’_ **

Andrew got a feeling of some affirmation from within his own mind, the entity known as leviathan seemingly able to project those feelings to him.

_‘Correct. Though I am unaware of what you mean by timing. However, it is imperative that we communicate at this point. Especially since you now have full access to Oda Nobulax’s extensive power.”_

Andrew couldn’t help but mull that over in his head before he responded to the voice.

**_‘And I suppose your about to tell me something along the lines about how this power is dangerous to me and to those around me and all that? Or am I off the mark.”_ **

For a moment the voice said nothing, but a feeling of annoyance filled his mind before Leviathan responded to him.

_‘All power is dangerous in the hands of those who are far to ignorant on how to use it. In your case, your power is meant for domination and destruction. You should be free to use it at your leisure. That is what we, the six familiars of Oda Nobulax had come to expect from him. You however are not the World Tyrant, and thus I would ask you what your intentions are. Detailing me with this information would thus allow me to answer any questions you may have about Oda and this power you now possess, the contracts with all of us included with that information as well.’_

Andrew hummed to himself at that, never really having thought about what he had in his possession nor what he could do with it.

**_‘You raise a very good question leviathan, but truth be told, I know nothing about Oda nor of what his power could do. Fill me in on what he could do with this amount of power, what things he might have achieved and maybe I can give you an answer outside of my trademark “I dunno.” Trust me, I get a better handle on things the more information I’m provided with.’_ **

_‘I see, you are curious, though your answer and lack of ambition somewhat worry me. No matter, I will provide you with what I can in regards to what you could accomplish, and in doing so hope for an answer that would meet the standards I expect.’_

Andrew had a feeling that he knew what was to come in terms of explanation, but at the same time, he wanted to hear him out despite what he suspected.

_‘Starting off, there is very little his power couldn’t do. His power was so vast that many higher tiered gods feared him, many succumbing to him when he would invade the worlds of those he desired. If he so willed it to happen, he could make it happen, if not from coercion then from sheer magical power. His physical strength was also of a godly degree, many who boasted of there strength having been brought to heel when he destroyed their worthless pride.’_

**‘ _Gonna have to be careful when I use my physical strength then if he was that strong… but your saying that he was on the level of a god?’_**

_‘Close to it. In terms of divinity rankings, he would have been on the cusp of an Almighty. Though that’s in comparison to deities, and those are hardly worth mentioning. No, it would in fact be much better to interpret his power in terms of demons.’_

**_‘What, would he be a great overlord or something.’_ **

Andrew felt Leviathan scoff at that.

_‘I do not even know what that is, but my lord was feared by even some of the demon gods, having stolen some of there powers for himself to use’_

Andrew couldn’t help but laugh a little.

**_‘Putting him pretty high up there aren’t ya, though this power comparison between high ranking powers doesn’t explain much to me I will leave it at that for another time. But I gotta ask, if he was so feared and powerful, how did he get himself beat in this world?’_ **

It was then that Andrew suddenly felt that this fellow was not the only one he was talking to. Suddenly, another voice entered the link, a much rougher and violent sounding voice.

_‘Trickery and deceit by one he held some degree of trust with! The harlot stabbing him in the back at the peak of his conquest!’_

_‘Grendel! How dare you interrupt me in the middle of-’_

Andrew stopped leviathan from talking when he spoke up.

**_‘Grendel? That’s an interesting name… and how many more of you guys are there in the back of my head? If there is more of you, better get them all out. I don’t want to go through the process of talking to each and every one of you solo. To much of a pain.’_ **

For a moment, Leviathan said nothing, but with a very annoyed mental huff, the entity only spoke up.

_‘As you wish… do not be overwhelmed however.’_

Not sure of what he was on about, Andrew felt his mind suddenly seem to be filled with thoughts unlike his own, as if memories and mental energy from things far gone where filling his mind. However, seeing as he had grown somewhat used to Leviathan, he quickly put himself back in order, but the small headache in the back of his mind told him that he was gonna be feeling it much later on.

_‘His mind holds even with the five of us present. I find this surprising Skoll, perhaps he is made of much stronger stuff then we gave him credit for?’_

_‘Do not be hasty Hati, Oda did not have the confusion this little one did even with our first encounter. The fact he recovered is somewhat admirable, but he is still lesser then our previous master.’_

_‘Your pandering to our previous lord is unwarranted sun-eater. He is dead and this one lives. That is all you need to worry about.’_

The voice called Sköll only seemed to growl at the new voice.

_‘Silence that tongue Hræsvelgr. Oda is the only one who holds my respect. You where always so eager to toss aside any loyalty in pursuits of new powers and oaths.’_

The voice called Grendel only laughed in a mocking tone at that.

_‘Always eager to curry his favor weren’t you you heated mutt. Putting your tail between your legs and running at his first command like the loyal dog you where.’_

Andrew could feel the hatred in his mind at Grendel from that statement, but Grendel’s didn’t seem to mind it. In fact, he seemed to relish in Skölls bloodlust. Andrew however, wasn’t about to have any of this, especially since it was giving him a headache.

**_‘How about you all shut your mouths and pay attention to the guy who’s head you inhabit free of charge eh? State who each of you are in the order you showed up in, starting with leviathan.’_ **

Andrew felt two sets of anger on him, the feelings coming from Sköll and if he guessed it correctly, the on called Hati.

_‘You dare to-’_

Andrew cut him off right there, taking a commanding tone in his mind with this would anger management issue.

**_‘I don’t dare. I do. Now zip it.’_ **

For a moment, Andrew was sure the voice called Sköll would back talk, but surprisingly, he decided to shut up. He suddenly felt some sense of amusement coming from the one called Grendel, followed by some respect from the one called Hræsvelgr and also from Leviathan. The previous spoke up.

_‘As you will young man. You already know who I am, but I am called Leviathan. Though I go by many many other names, it is the one I most prefer. I was the second to be subdued by Oda Nobulax, though I am more the leader of this gathering of... talents.’_

Andrew was a little curious how he had worded that, but the next one spoke up, preventing him from thinking on it further.

_‘You’ve got guts young mortal. Not many would tell Sköll to shut his mouth, but I like that. You may be worth serving after all, though I’ll hold off on all judgment for later. I’m called Grendel, but like Leviathan, I also go by many other names. I just prefer this one. I’m the third of this group, but you also are the one who summoned me back a few weeks ago when you had me wring that orc to death. Delightful little bit that. Hadn’t gotten to bloody my hands in a long time, though next time I want to see how you do in a real fight.’_

Andrew was confused at that, but something about what he said clicked in his mind, especially about the mentioned orc. He would have to ask Labareda and Unoma about it later though, as the next voice to speak up was Sköll.

_‘I am Sköll, and the other one with me is Hati, we are twins and the fourth and fifth of Lord Odas familiars.’_

_‘I can speak for myself brother. Though you are not wrong. Young master, just like our counterparts, we also go by many names, though that can be said of all of us.’_

Andrew felt he was going to need to ask about what those other names where, but he put it for later seeing as another one spoke up.

_‘I am the last of the six. I am the corpse swallower, the wings of air, the one who will ink the sky with my wings. I am referred to as Hræsvelgr… though I also go by The Ziz, or Garuda amongst many other names.’_

Andrew only nodded his head, but he knew those names from legands he once knew in his own world, simply raising some surprise and curiosity out of him. However, he opted to wait a second before he spoke up about what it was that he felt was wrong with the situation.

**_‘You said there was six of you, but I only count five of you in terms of conscious minds. Who is the first one and why isn’t it here?’_ **

For a moment, Andrew felt something akin to fear coming from them, but it was subdued in an attempt to not show it off. Leviathan spoke up next though with much hesitation.

_‘He is not here because unlike the rest of us… Bahamut does not cooperate. He only listened to Oda, and even then, he was rarely called on. As loath as I am to admit it, he is arrogant because he has more power then the rest of us combined. If you would seek him out, do it when we are not present. It should not be hard for you to do so.’_

Andrew felt that this Bahamut was an interesting character, especially if the rest of them where afraid of him. But he opted to keep that tidbit of info for later.

**_‘I’ll put it on my todo list for later. For now though, let us discuss what plans we all have for the future. Now that I have a good grasp of what Oda was capable of and what he used that power for, I can say I’m not goin to be following in his footsteps for sure… unless something happens that makes me take the warpath, then we’ll discuss more on that later. However, I get the feeling that having been his familiars, you had some expectations for him. Thus you probably have some expectations for me. I would like to hear what those are. Don’t get your hopes up though since I can’t guarantee I’ll do it, but I’ll see what I can do.’_ **

For a few moments, Andrew didn’t hear anything out of any of them, but it didn’t last long. It wasn’t surprising when he heard Leviathan speak up.

_‘We do not expect you to follow in the path of our previous master, you and he being far to different from each other to have the same goals. All we expect out of you is to see the qualities of one who would rule over us. You have demonstrated some of it to a degree, but we wish to see more. demonstrate to us your own power and ability to command and we will be willing to offer you our power and servitude without hesitation.’_

Andrew couldn’t help but mull over it for a moment, the last time he was offered this kind of deal being when he first met Labareda. Letting out a low sigh, Andrew could only accept given the circumstances.

**_‘Very well. I really don’t think I have a real choice in the matter, so I suppose I’m just going to give it my all and hope I meet those standards you all have. If not, well, I guess we’re all stuck together until something happens.’_ **

Leviathan gave off some confirmative feelings.

_‘Then we are agreed young man. We will leave in order to give you the required time to think this over and show us what you are capable of. Until then, I suggest you be wary of those around you and of those who will come in the future. Many will notice the late masters power will be missing from these ruins, and thus many will come to find the cause, you inevitably being at the end of that search.’_

**_‘Got it. Watch my back and show you what I can do when the time comes. Here’s hoping for good results.’_ **

However, what Leviathan said next caused Andrew to blink physically in surprise.

_‘Attends et espère_. _’_

With that line spoken, Andrew felt his head clear up a whole lot, the five other presences having gone altogether. Andrew found himself thinking back on the whole of the conversation, his mind going over every detail he could analyze.

“Holy crap Andrew, how long are you gonna piss for? I heard you finish almost a minute ago! Do you need help or something? You better not be… fiddling with yourself right now!”

Those thoughts where brought to a halt when the voice of a familiar female caused him to remember where he was and what he was doing. Not sure how much time had passed since he had begun his mental conversation, Andrew stowed away his personal equipment before he turned back around.

“Sorry about that Serena. Got lost in thought there for a little bit.”

He couldn’t see her since her back was to the bright flame further behind her, but he could tell from her tone that she was some levels annoyed and disbelieving.

“Standing there with your cock out and lost in thought? Not sure I want to know what you where thinking of. Anyway… if you’re done…”

“I know I know, we’ll go ahead and head on back.”

However, she didn’t answer him right away, some hesitation in her next words causing him to look at her curiously.

“Um… maybe not right this second…”

Confused, Andrew answered equally as such.

“Why is that?”

“I don’t know, maybe take in the sights for about a minute or two, enjoy nature and all that…”

Andrew couldn’t help but notice the dodgy tone she was taking.

“In the middle of the night.”

Seeing that she wasn’t going to be able to deceive him with any of the meager tricks she had, Serena decided to stop beating around the bush and just tell him, albeit in a very quiet voice.

“…ve…e…”

Andrew didn’t hear her under her muttering, so he instead leaned a little closer.

“What? Repeat that please, my hearing isn’t that great.”

“Have to…e…”

Andrew heard about the first three quarters of that, but she petered off at the end, mumbling the last word out.

“Have to what exactly? Please speak up.”

At that point she lost her temper.

“Pee dammit pee!”

Now throughly red in the face, Serena could only look at him in many parts shame and anger, the girl quivering in one-part aforementioned emotions, and one part restraining her bladder. Now realizing what she was after, Andrew let out a low ‘ohhhh’ before he nodded in understanding.

“Ah Sorry, wasn’t aware of that. I’ll go ahead and head on back to the campground then while you do your business.”

“You think I’m going to stand out here half naked in the dark with who knows what waiting to jump me? Hell no! I watched your back while you did your business, now you have to keep an eye out for me!”

Now understanding the gist of the situation he was in at this point, Andrew only nodded his head in understanding.

“Alright, got it. Go ahead then, I’ll keep an eye out.”

Not taking his eyes off of her, Andrew looked on at her for a few moments with a deep intensity, causing the girl to blush. However, she only got more frustrated.

“Stop looking at me you idiot! I’m not about to pee with you watching!”

“But you just said to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t get attacked.”

“Not on **me** you dolt! Keep an eye out around us! I can handle myself just fine you perv!”

Despite the somewhat harsh but very true statement, Andrew only let out a low sigh before he turned himself around to keep watch for any would be attackers… though he was partially convinced that she wanted him to look away in fear of him peeping on her. Serena, for her part, looked at him for a few more seconds to make sure he hadn’t turned back around to look at her before she went off into some bushes and began to pull her bottom down. Thankfully she had removed her greaves earlier when she had set Aruma down to rest, so she didn’t have to deal with taking them off for her little bathroom relief. However, it was still an embarrassing thing to do in the company of others. Though it was less so out here in the open world where she could hide behind something unlike in the dungeon when she needed to have Unoma or Labareda keep an eye out for her while she did her business. After having removed her stockings and underwear, she knelt down next to a tree to do the deed. Even in the woods where it was much less quiet and didn’t echo, Andrew could still hear the sounds she was making. Feeling up to some teasing, Andrew smiled as he crossed his arms and continued looking out.

“My goodness Serena. I’ve heard it so many times now, but every time I hear it, it just sounds cuter and cuter.”

Not able to move due to her body restricting most of her functions at this important time, Serena felt her face flush in true embarrassment followed by her cutting words.

“Pissing doesn’t sound cute at all you jackass!”

“Really? Cause I think it sounds cute when you do it.”

Shivering in both relief and embarrassment, Serena could only angrily fuss at him.

“Just shut up and let me pee in peace!”

Andrew opted to do the very opposite.

“Did you need something to wipe yourself with? I wouldn’t use plants or anything since that brings the risk of a vaginal infection. I have a rag if you want to use it, but I wouldn’t mind licking it up for you, your body no doubt tasting sweet if I did.”

Serena was happy that the area was dark and that he was turned away from her. The blush on her face would have been bright even in this darkness.

“S-SHUT IT YOU MASSIVE PERVERT!”

Andrews chuckling was all she heard from him, but she could tell he was laughing at her expense. Thankfully she had just finished up and was just about to wipe herself before the feeling of something fuzzy and wriggling dropping on her neck caused her to jump while screaming.

“GAH! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!? GET IT OFF ME!!”

Tumbling over herself, Serena fell to the ground behind here where she began to roll around on the ground, trying to get the offending thing off her neck. Andrew, his mood having turned serious, quickly turned around to help her out in case she was being attacked by something. What he was not expecting was to see her laying flat on her back, her stockings down and her nether region exposed to him in full glory. Whatever had landed on her was already gone at this point, so Serena only took a moment to look up and see that Andrew was looking directly at her. More specifically, her exposed pussy. For a moment, Andrew expected her to blush and cover herself before either tossing something at him to make him look away, or yell at him to look away. He couldn’t help the look though, the last time he saw her naked being when she and Unoma had been having fun with each other. Oddly enough though, Serena only did one of the things he thought she would do, that being the deep blush on her face. However, the expression on her face was one of confusion and surprise, but no anger to be found. What he was not privy to was the inner thoughts going on in her mind, the red headed twin-tail surprising herself with the thoughts currently busting through her head. 

‘ _Yes, look! Desire me! Gaze upon me, feast your eyes on this body of mine, it is yours! Take it! Take **me! Devore me in body, make me yours, make me scream like a whore as we fuck like the beasts that we are!** ’_

These thoughts surprised her, not sounding anything like her usual self. But at the same time, she felt that they… where true in a way. That she wanted it, that she needed it, and that only confused her even more. Her body began to relax, but at the same time, she felt that she wasn’t in control, that something in her was prying itself out of her the longer he looked at her, the longer his _desire_ filled her. Finding her hands moving, Serena was surprised when her armored hands began to snake down to her exposed lower lips. She felt that she wanted him to see, that she wanted him to look at her most shameful place, her pussy beginning to leak with both sexual desire and her earlier pissing. She found herself smiling, panting, her body aching like a whore for him, her memory of his sexual adventures with Unoma and Labareda accelerating the lust in her.

“Se-Serena? Are you okay? I can’t really see, but are you hurt?”

The sounds of his voice being filled with concern for her wellbeing rather than craving for her body caused her mind to snap back to it’s normal state almost immediately. Realizing that her hand had started to fiddle with her slit, Serena quickly pulled it away, her red face now embarrassed beyond belief rather then with the red of desire.

“I-i-i-i-i-i-I’m fine!”

She stuttered badly as she worked herself back into a sitting position, where she then quickly got to her feet and beat off any dirt and debris before she pulled her pants and leggings back up, so out of it that she had done all of this in plain view of the man who was causing it… or maybe she found that she wanted him to? Turning to look back at him, Serena was almost too scared to ask the question in her mind, but she felt that she had to voice it anyway.

“D-did you see me?”

Andrew, with a face showing mostly concern, only shrugged his shoulders.

“Not much.” He lied.

The truth was he saw everything about her, his eyes having had adjusted in the dark enough for him to see what she had been doing. He couldn’t get the image out of his mind, her look of lust and the way she had begun to masturbate in front of him, as if she had been begging him to look… and maybe even do more. However, he felt that pointing it out or making a big deal out of it right now would be a bad idea, something telling him that it wasn’t wise to do so. She wasn’t sure if she believed him or not, but at the same time, she noticed he wasn’t very perturbed by her question, so she couldn’t help but think that maybe he was telling the truth.

“I… I see… I’m done anyway… and good job looking out by the way.”

Letting her wit come back into the conversation, Andrew couldn’t help but frown a little at her.

“Well you did say not to look directly at you after all. I can’t help it if something comes at you from the direction you told me not to look.” 

Not able to argue with that logic, Serena could only huff at how this whole thing went, her mind still seemingly agonizing over how weird she had become for a moment there.

_‘Was this what Sarya was talking about? Maybe I should ask her about it tomorrow…’_

Deciding that they both had had enough of sitting around, Andrew and Serena made there way back to the camp. Upon coming back though, Unoma and Labareda both had disappointed looks on there faces. Lab only gave Andrew a pitying look followed by a ‘maybe next time you’ll get it.’ After that, nothing else seemed to occur for the rest of the night, the group taking turns throughout the night to keep watch, though Labareda took over after Andrews turn was done so that the group could get decent sleep. The morning was also pretty uneventful, with Jonathan’s group leading the way on an animal path to the shore of the island they where on. Thankfully it only took a little under an hour for them to find the shore, and even less time to find the designated harbor for pick up and drop off. However, Andrew had been told that the ferry wouldn’t be here until later in the day, if at all if it was the day it was supposed to come. Thankfully there was another camping site by the small pier for them to stay at, so they could set up camp for the night if need be.

At this point though, it was just a waiting game. So everyone decided to waste time in the ways that made sense. Sarya took/kidnapped Aruma so that she could shower the girl in affection and more stories, though the girl wasn’t very much opposed to this. Andrew did note that she still seemed to be sleeping a lot, though Unoma told him that she was probably still recovering her power from her very long and forced sealing. The girl was very powerful for her age, and she probably needed a lot of rest and energy to recover it. Morgana was busying herself with an alchemy kit of some sort with Unoma and Labareda watching her with some mild interest, clearly interested in seeing how far magical alchemy had come since they had shut themselves away from the world. Jonathan had asked Serena and Andrew to train with him. Andrew wasn’t sure how he might fare and had been tempted to refuse, but Serena had argued that it would be best for him to try to learn to defend himself.

Thus why he was standing in front of Serena, the girl holding her demonic katana in a way that forced the curved edge in his direction. A clear handicap and a very easy definer of where he was at in terms of combat ability.

Jonathan nodded his head when he saw that Serena was ready. He then turned his attention back to Andrew.

“First, we want to see where your ability is at and to see if you might have a knack for fighting.”

Andrew, not looking forward to the inevitable beat down, only nodded his head.

“Cool. I’m ready I’m guess… don’t hit too hard by the way, I bruise easily.”

Grinning a rather wicked grin as she hefted her blade into a striking position, Andrew could only pity his future self. Jonathan looked between the both of them for a moment before he nodded.

“You may begin.”

For a moment, nobody did anything. But it was only for that moment. Serena burst into action when she charged forward, her sword low and held in a way for an upward strike. Andrew saw it surprisingly enough, though he hadn’t been expecting to even see her move. His eyes easily followed her, but his mind and body had no idea what to do given the situation. He wasn’t accustomed to fighting, so the moment she brought it up to slash him, Andrew only stood there, his eyes following the blades path until it eventually connected, the back of the blade bringing with it… some moderate dose of pain.

“Gah Jesus Christ!”

Stumbling back from the blow, Andrew thought that that would be the end of it, but he was sorely mistaken when Serena brought the blade down, and turning it mid-air, cracked him on top of his head with the flat of the blade. Crumpling to the ground with his hands on his head, Andrew only let out a shout of sheer agony as what would now be a splitting headache ran through his skull. Thankfully, she stopped there, but she looked somewhat surprised, but at the same time, vexed. Jonathan, who had witnessed the whole thing, had to admit that it was a rather pitiful display, but he was also a little surprised.

“Lady Serena, what’s your evaluation?”

Andrew, who was still nursing his cracked skull, stood back up while rubbing the top of his head.

“I’ll let you know Jonathan. It was fuck awful.”

Serena gave him an annoyed look before she turned back to the man asking the question.

“He didn’t react at all… but I’m surprised by two things. How he was able to follow the line of my blade, and how he was able to take such powerful strikes with ease.”

Andrew looked at her with a baffled expression.

“With ease? That shit hurt.”

Serena turned her attention back to him.

“Yeah they hurt. But what you’re not aware of is that I hit you with enough force to break your bones. I felt like I was hitting a dense tree.”

“I know I’m a little thick but that’s more because It’s more muscle then fat… and you where swinging hard enough to break my bones?”

Serena only shrugged her shoulders at him.

“I thought like a normal person and that you would try to, ya know, dodge. It’s not that hard by the way.”

Before this banter could continue, Jonathan stepped in.

“Well, we have something of a ground work to go with in terms of your ability.”

Andrew curiously cocked his head to the side at that.

“Wouldn’t you need to do it a few more times to get a good idea of where I’m at?”

Serena only huffed.

“That one demonstration was all we really needed. You have no combat experience, but you have a good strong _handsome_ body to work with and very good perception of your opponent. It’s a good base to go with, but to even be competent in a real fight, your going to need training. And a lot of it.”

Andrew, despite why she added that one unusual descriptor into the explanation, could not refute what she was saying about him. He had never been in a real fight before, and he had no doubt that such a skill set would be almost essential in this world he found himself in. Before he could think on it anymore, Andrew found his body reacting to something being tossed at him. By the time he had it, he realized he had caught a sword by the handle. Looking at it curiously, he turned to the individual who had thrown it to him. Jonathan nodded at him before he turned in the direction of the ocean.

“Take a few practice swings with that, and we’ll do a light sparring match afterward.”

Letting a small groan escape his mouth Andrew looked at the weapon in his hand with a curious look. It felt to light to him, like it had the weight of a stick over the weight of a real weapon like he recalled. He had picked up a few swords and whatnot in antique stores and the like, but he couldn’t help but feel that they had been heavier then this. Attributing it to maybe other world shenanigans, Andrew only shrugged his shoulders before he worked himself into what he thought was a proper position for sword fighting. He wasn’t sure if that was the case, but Jonathan and Serena didn’t seem to be having issue with him the way he was. Of course, he didn’t have any delusions that he would be able to last more then a few seconds at most, but he was going to try to at least make some kind of effort in that regard.

Letting a low breath escape his lips, Andrew brought his focus in on Serena, the girl bringing her own blade up to defend herself. However, she couldn’t help but look him dead in the eyes and was absolutely surprised to see the look of concentration there. She couldn’t help but voice her observation. 

“Well you got surprisingly serious for once.”

Andrew looked at her for a moment before he let a sheepish look cross his face.

“I can be serious at times as well, though not often seeing as I’m somewhat useless in a lot of regards… anyway, lets get to this… don’t hurt me to much okay?”

Serena only smiled at him with a confident look on her face, her blade leveling itself with his own sword. Andrew got his mind back into the fighting mood and held the blade like he would a katana. Jonathan, seeing that both of them where ready, nodded at them both before he lifted his hand.

“Ready…”

Serena shifted herself into a defensive stance, wanting to test how Andrew might attack. Andrew, for his part, was ready to bring his all into this one swing in hopes he might match her speed at least for a moment. Jonathan brought his hand down a moment later.

“Begin!”

Andrew was the first to move, but it felt unnatural. His body responded almost to well, and it felt like everything went way to fast, but he still had his eyes on her and her weapon. But it just seemed as if she was standing there. Not sure what to think about it, Andrew only brought his blade up and brought it down where her weapon was, Serena only seemed to widen her eyes to him, her blade only moving out of the way as she dodged clear of his strike. To Andrew, it felt wrong. The weapon was to light, his body was to fast, he felt like he was putting to much power into it. Serena only just barely got out of the way before his sword collided into the ground. However, what happened when it hit the ground surprised everyone watching. The moment it hit the rocky shore, the ground seemed to explode with rocks, wet earth, and greenery. The sword in Andrews hands stayed down, the man only staring blankly at the now large crater in the ground before his feet. Serena… no, everyone at this point was looking at Andrew now, the crater in front of him large enough to hold three people in it if they so chose to get inside. Nobody said anything, only surprise at what had just happened filling them. However, Serena was the first to recover, the girl looking at him with a great deal of anger.

“Good Gods! What are you trying to do!? Kill me?! I could hardly even see you move! I almost didn’t have time to get out of the way!”

Unsure of how to respond to her, Andrew only stood back up, somewhat unsteady with what he had just done.

“Sorry… I wasn’t even aware I could… do that… or that I was that strong for that fact.”

Serena, seeing that he was just as confused as she was, dropped her frustration down a notch before she rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably.

“I guess if you didn’t know…”

Jonathan only nodded before he spoke up.

“I’m a little surprised though. Have you always been that strong?”

Andrew only shook his head.

“Clearly you didn’t just hear me. No, I’ve never been that strong before… but if I was to hazard a guess, it’s probably from when I got the ax.”

Labareda clapped her paws together once, a smile on her face.

“Correct master. You have the world tyrants physical and magical power in you at this point, though I hadn’t been expecting you to have access to his physical power for a while yet. I wouldn’t worry though, we just need to teach you how to limit your massive physical power along with the magical. Though if you’re still looking for a training partner, it’ll have to be me or the blonde boy there since he’s a blessed hero, and thus has both the training and the minimum physical power to handle you. Serena might also handle you so long as she can keep up with you.”

The twin tail only shook her head.

“No way. I don’t want to die from a training match thank you very much.”

Labareda, who had gotten up from what she had been doing, walked over to where Andrew was and put a reassuring paw on his arm.

“Don’t worry Master, as long as Unoma and I are here, we can teach and help train this power you’ve obtained. As a matter of fact, let’s test that physical strength of yours, shall we?”

Reassured by her words, Andrew was curious when she opened her arms wide and gave him a big hug.

“As much as I enjoy your hugs Lab… what does this do for strength training.”

It was then he began to notice the tightening grip around his waist.

“Easy, I’m going to keep squeezing you for a solid minute, I want you to try to pry me off… also, no sexual contact. You gotta use pure physical power. Making me horny might not be the best for you in this situation.”

As if she had read his mind, Andrew couldn’t help but wonder if she had come to know him well enough to know what tricks he might pull, molesting her to make her let go being one of his first ideas. But if it wasn’t going to count, then he supposed that he wouldn’t have much choice in the matter. Feeling her grip start to tighten even more, Andrew grabbed her by the shoulders and tested the waters so to say with some light pushing. However, what he felt back was like a solid rock. Immovable and steady.

Labareda only let out a low chuckle.

“What was that? Try harder or you won’t get me off.”

Deciding to do as she said, Andrew started to use more force this time, but was met with the same result. Labareda only laughed again, but she looked up at him with a very irritating grin on her face.

“I can’t even feel a thing. Are you really trying? I would suggest you try harder or else this little session will get very boring very quickly.”

Feeling maybe a slight bit irritated by how she was phrasing that, Andrew started to push to the limits of his physical power. He was rewarded with a slight nudge followed by a vicious tightening.

“There we go! Now we’re getting somewhere! But can you do it even harder?!”

Spurred on by her words, Andrew started to put everything he had into trying to pry the little girl off his waist. For the next few minutes, the both of them struggled back and forth with each other, the meshing of there bodies as they push and pulled from each other leaving them breathless and sweaty. For a moment or two, Serena could help but think of something sexual as they wrestled with each other, memories of more intimate moments between them coming to her mind. However, the full minute passed and Andrew had yet to get her off… of him. Loosening her grip on him, Labareda looked up at him, a blush of exertion on her face as she smiled up at him.

“A very good effort, but not quite Master.”

Unoma, who had watched it all with something of a lewd look on her face, brought her attention back to reality and away from her fantasies.

“Very true. But I think that with a little prodding into your own body, you might be able to unlock even more of the strength of the world tyrant. It seems that you are only accessing a small amount of that power, but even as you are, most low tier monsters… maybe even some mid tier ones would pose no real threat to you.”

Jonathan nodded his head at the assessment before he turned back to Andrew.

“I agree. Though that’s only in the case of one on one. A trained warrior might be able to beat you easily. And I’m not sure how you might fare against a whole horde of monsters.”

Andrew agreed with Jonathan’s statement.

“Very true, more training and work will be required in order to make myself combat ready. Until then though, imma sit down and relax for a bit.”

Just as he was about to walk away, he quickly noticed that Labareda had yet to let go of him. The demon familiar nuzzling her face into his belly. For a few moments he didn’t do anything, but then he had to ask.

“As comfortable as this is, I need to walk, and to do that I need you to let go.”

She immediately responded, albeit with a muffled voice.

“Un nna. (Don’t wanna).”

Letting a half-hearted sigh come out of his mouth, Andrew could only smile a little before he simply hugged her closer and picked her up bridal style. She was only surprised by this for a moment before she took full advantage of the situation to wrap her arms around his neck and nuzzle her face into the crook of his neck. Andrew then walked over to where the pier was and sat down on it, keeping an eye out into what he supposed was the ocean, his familiar still warmly latched onto him. It was only the both of them for a moment longer before Unoma flew right over to where they where and she embraced him from behind around his neck, a slightly jealous pout on her face. Andrew opted to say nothing about it at all since he felt he might have been neglecting her for the past hours or so. However, he only got to enjoy cuddle time for a few minutes before he drew his attention to the water, where he spotted something jump out of the reflective surface off in the distance. He didn’t get a good look at it, but he had to admit that it looked very big to be a fish. Turning his head to look over his shoulder Andrew saw Sarya, who was holding Aruma’s hand as the girl was barefoot in the water, cautiously tiptoeing through the surf. Despite the cute scene, he felt he needed to get the elf’s attention.

“Hey Sarya?”

The elf looked over at him curiously.

“What’s up?”

“Is the water safe by chance? I thought I just saw something really big jump out of the ocean over on the horizon.”

Sarya cocked her head to the side in thought before she answered him.

“Not as far as I’m aware. The passage between here and the city is really safe as it’s patrolled by the city navy. Not to mention every guide who comes to this island is strong on there own. What did it look like exactly?”

Andrew thought about it for a moment before he gave an honest answer.

“I only saw the tail truth be told, but it looked as big as a person. It was really bright blue as well and shone in the sunlight.”

“Really? That sounds like a mermaid. If it is, they aren’t anything to worry about. Very friendly.”

At the mention of the word mermaid, Aruma looked out at the ocean, Andrew and Sarya noticing her hopeful look. However, when Andrew looked back out into the ocean, he saw something much closer then on the horizon. More specifically, down in the water at his feet.

A blue haired girl who looked just over thirteen was staring up at him with a curious gaze, her bright green eyes only visible past a long wall of bangs while she was looking up at him. Andrew could see what looked to be a seashell hair ornament in her short neck length hair, but anything beyond the neckline was submerged under the water, so he couldn’t get a good view of what the rest of her body might look like.

For what may or may not have been a solid three seconds, Andrew and the girl only stared at each other before the girl opened her mouth and spoke up in surprise.

“Huh, the captain was right. there is someone on the dock already.”

Having spoken, the girl had managed to catch the attention of everyone else who had not been paying attention to the ocean. Andrew though could only blink in some surprise before he posed to her a question.

“Well, your captain had the right of it. My name is Andrew by the way, who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

With a small smile and a little head turn, the blue haired girl dove under the water, only confusing him along with the two girls clung to him. It wasn’t until the water seemed to explode that they figured out what she was up to, which was launching herself up onto the dock next to them. This allowed everyone a good view of what she was. It was easy to see that she was a mamono, more specifically a mermaid. Andrew quickly realized that she was more then likely what had jumped out of the water earlier. Her upper half was bare to the world, a modest size bust and what looked to be gills of a sort along her rib cage under said breasts. She was slender along the parts that where human, but below the waist area was nothing but a massive fish tail, bright blue and shining in the sunlight. However, her bright expression followed by her wide-open arms drew his attention away from her apparent nudity.

“My name is Silque! I’m the first scout for the captain who operates the ferry between the island and Gwent!”

Not sure how best to react to both how she just slammed into the deck the way she did nor of her sudden exuberance, Andrew only nodded, his eyes a little more glued on her modest assets. Thankfully, he didn’t need to speak up since Sarya had opted to do so out of some confusion.

“The captain? As far as I was aware, the captain didn’t have a mermaid scout. A man by the name of Udel?”

Silque only shook her head before she pointed out to the ocean behind her.

“No, udel got hurt a few weeks back by a Giant Angler. It came out of nowhere he said and he busted his leg up really bad. So, my captain opted to take over for him until he got better.”

Jonathan and the rest of his group all looked to each other curiously. However, Andrew missed that and only looked at the mermaid curiously.

“So who’s your captain and when are they getting here?”

Silque only looked at him for a moment before her brain started to process what it was he just said. She had to think about it for a few minutes, but eventually she came to an answer.

“Ah! You’re curious about when Captain Kanneth gets here! Should be in a few hours or so, she said she had a hunch that something was waiting for us. Something important. But to be one hundred percent truthful here, nothing here looks super important. Oh well, Captain has always had a weird sixth sense when it comes to these things. I don’t get paid to think about that stuff after all! I just do the scouting and as the captain puts it, not fuck it up!”

Not sure how to react to the mermaids unintentional(?) dissing, Andrew decided to focus himself on another part of the conversation.

“You just said Kanneth right? Isn’t that a guy’s name? from the way you’re talking, your captain seems to be a woman.”

“Ha ha! I wouldn’t say that to her face if I was you! The captain has a bit of a sore spot with her name and she’ll cave you a new one of you call her out on it!”

Andrew only nodded slowly before he responded.

“Huh… noted then.”

For a minute or two, nobody really said much of anything to Silque, Jonathan and his group talking about parts of her conversation, which had left Andrew, Serena, and Aruma to try to talk with the mermaid. Though it was mostly Andrew watching with Labareda and Unoma still clinging to him while Serena watched Aruma start trying to communicate with the mermaid. He wasn’t sure what the girl knew of mermaids, but Andrew found that Silque seemed to behave like an airhead. Rather ditzy at times, and something of rough mouth on her, but she seemed kind enough. Especially so when Aruma had wanted to talk with her and the mermaid had cheerfully complied.

The blonde-haired girl looked at the mermaid in sparkly eyed wonder as she began to pelt her with question after question.

“Can you really breathe underwater?”

“Of course! What do you think these gills on my chest are for?”

Pointing at aforementioned anatomy peculiarity, everyone looked at what she indicated. Andrew had to admit that from a mystical standpoint, gills on chest made some sense, but also seemed as if it would cause issues for her. Aruma didn’t seem to care about such anatomy issues though and only continued to look at her in absolute wonder. And by extension, so did Serena, though she was doing a better job of keeping such excitement under wraps. Andrew only found himself chuckling to himself at the younger girl’s excitement, though he was drawn away from it when he saw Unomas curious look.

“What’s up Unoma?”

“Nothing much Dear Master. Just curious to see that mermaids haven’t changed very much in the late millennium. I will say the anatomy may have altered itself a bit, but otherwise it hasn’t changed. Also, I want a turn on Masters lap Labareda.”

The demon only gave the dark mage a smug grin before she ignored the request and looked at the mermaid in question, who was happily answer more of Aruma’s questions.

“Maybe they haven’t changed much physically, but you can feel that the girl is fundamentally different on a spiritual and magical level in comparison to a thousand years ago. And no, this is my spot until the ship gets here, then you can have.”

Unoma was not pleased with that answer. However, she knew she couldn’t do anything about it seeing as she didn’t want to and only opted to embrace Andrew even more closely to make up for the lack of a lap nap. Andrew, Unoma, and Labareda only sat there in a nice huddled group while Aruma and Serena found more interesting things to do with Silque, leaving Jonathan and his group to only watch on for the ship. Outside of Silque’s initial arrival, nothing else much happened for the next few hours, Aruma managing to get the mermaid to play with her in the water while Serena and Sarya watched over her. Unoma had fallen asleep against Andrew, forcing Labareda to forgive her spot so that the Dark Mage could nap on Andrews lap. Though this did allow Labareda to elan against his shoulder for comfort and rest. This went on for the next few hours until eventually, Saryas elven eyes witnessed a large ship on the horizon.

“I think the ship is here.”

Everyone else looked at where she was looking and didn’t see much. However, Silque seemed to instantly tell who’s ship it was and lit up in delight.

“That’s my ship! Hang on for a few minutes, I need to go and tell the Captain that there are people here! Once we get you guys on the ship, we’ll have the whole of today and tomorrow to hang out!”

Silque had directed that statement at Aruma who only nodded her head excitedly. Everyone watched the mermaid jump off the pier and zip away the moment she hit the water, pretty much long gone by the time they blinked. Everyone got onto the pier to await the mentioned boat, but everyone couldn’t help but notice Saryas slightly perverse grin. Andrew was the one to call her out on it though.

“What’s got you grinning like that?”

“Oh just wait. You’ll see.”

Only more curious, and maybe a little excited, Andrew could only wait to see what the elf was on about. It didn’t take long for the ship to come into view, but even less time for the ships full glory to be seen by everyone. The levels of reactions varied between everyone, with Morgana and Serena only groaning at the sight, Jonathan only laughing sheepishly, Aruma having her eyes covered by aforementioned male hero, and everyone else only grinning lewdly at it, Andrew voicing what he thought.

“He he… nice.”

The ship itself was a brigantine, a rather large ship in of itself, but not truly massive. It was large and it didn’t seem to be painted in any kinds of colors, though the shine of lacquer was easy to see from the surface of the boat. Though it was a few details that made four of the individuals in the group appreciate it. The twin masts, at first glance, looked normal, until one saw past the sails that kept the ship going and saw the masts and that the both of them looked a bit thicker then what would’ve considered normal. They also seemed to have an unusual curve to them along with an unusual head at the top. Outside of one person who’s eyes where currently covered, it was easy to see that the masts where in the shape of giant dicks. However, the thing that grabbed the most attention was the figurehead at the front of the ship. It was in the shape of a beautiful woman, intricately designed in all her nude glory, everything about the details looking as if a master had recreated the woman it was modeled after right into the wood itself. What made it stand out though was that instead of a serene or smiling face, the woman’s face was twisted into an ahegao, her belly distended from the shape of a dick forcing its way into her womb while her arms had the appearance of being held in place.

“I think I’m going to like the captain of this ship.”

Andrew could only nod in agreement with Unoma. For a few minutes, everyone watched as the ship got closer, but it eventually dropped anchor a good distance out. The anchor wasn’t the only thing it dropped though, a small boat being lowered into the water as everyone watched something jump off the deck of the ship and into the water. It was easy to see that it was a mermaid from the coloring (no doubt Silque), but something also jumped from the top of the mast and took flight. Everyone was curious about that at first, but they noticed that the flying… thing was staying over the small boat. What was surprising about the boat itself was that it didn’t have anybody in it, seemingly coming toward them under its own power. Though when it got closer, Andrew was able to see the rope attached to the front and the taught appearance it had, indicating that it was being pulled by Silque. Though of the two, the first one to make it to them was the flying one. And once they started to descend, Andrew and the rest managed it get a good view of who it actually was. ‘She’ was a female who looked a little older then Silque did, maybe somewhere in the fifteen or sixteen-year range by appearance. However, that was only judging her based on her body type and youthful appearance. That being somewhat misleading when she herself was some kind of sea bird harpy.

Her plumage was white around where her less then human parts where at, those being the lower parts of her legs, and her wings. Those being in the place of where her rams would go. Her skin was a creamier color, though it wasn’t tan like Andrew would have expected a seafaring individual to have. Her iris’s where a pale yellow in color, her eyes themselves looking lazy and sleepy. The girl’s hair was somewhat long, coming down to the middle of her back, but she only partially kept it out of her face. Which only allowed her left eye to be visible at all times while her right was hidden by long bangs unless the wind moved her white hair out of the way. Just like Silque was, this girl was topless, revealing her small bust. Though unlike the mermaid, the girl had a lower half like a human female save for halfway down the thigh where it turned into a plumed birds keg, and thus wore what looked to be a kind of tribal long skirt, etched with blues and motifs of the sea.

Despite the inhuman features of her bird like heritage, the thing that struck him amazingly different about the girl was her sheer size. He had only guessed that she was young, but her wingspan easily dwarfed him by a good many feet, and her actual size would put her just a little under his own height, and he was even at six feet tall. She wasn’t fat, but somewhat thin so this gave her the appearance of looking only slightly anorexic. Everyone moved out of the way for her to land on the pier, the beating of her wings as she came to a slow decent kicking up long hair and any dust from off the pier itself. But eventually the talons of her claws touched down, and the girl lazily looked on at the group.

“Huh… so it looks like the captain was right… again… you guys must be the ones Silque was talking about, right?”

Jonathan nodded his head at her in answer to her question.

“Correct, but may we ask who you are?”

The harpy looked at him for a moment before she shrugged her shoulders in non-interest.

“I’m not anybody really important, but I’m usually the look out on the ship. My name is Tannath. You can call me Tan for short though. Anyway, Silque should be here soon-ish if she doesn’t get distracted by anything too perverse on her way over here… also, gotta ask, who paid for full round trip?”

Andrew, not sure what she was talking about, looked at her in a confused manner. Jonathan and his group pulled out some small pieces of paper though and held them up for her to see.

“We did.”

Tannath nodded her head before she turned to Andrews group.

“Alright, if you want a trip back, your gonna need to pay about two hundred copper… if you don’t have that, then two silver works just as well.”

Andrew was about to mention on how he wasn’t sure if they even had the appropriate currency for the ride, or if that fare was even normal, but the harpy wasn’t done yet and suddenly let out a low sigh.

“But if you would like the maximum in comfort then you may offer up one gold coin for the day and a half trip from here to Gwent.”

She had said all that in a rehearsed manner, but she had sounded slightly annoyed by it, as if she really wasn’t expecting anybody to actually pay for that. Andrews main concern was that he wasn’t sure if they would be able to pay period, and he wasn’t sure if Jonathan would be willing to pay for them despite him being a decent person. Before he could say or do anything about it though, Labareda spoke up before she pulled something seemingly out of thin air.

“When you say gold coin, do you mean something like this?”

Tannath looked at the demonic familiar for a moment before she eyeballed the coin in her claws, She then somehow gripped it with her wing (Andrew had to blink a few times when he saw her hold a coin with the Alula portion of her wing.) and began to examine it more closely. While she was doing that, Andrew looked to Labareda and asked her the question he had in his mind.

“Where did you get that?”

Lab only looked up at him while she shrugged her shoulders.

“Weirdly enough, whenever I would kill something in the labyrinth, it would automatically be added into my dimensional space. I don’t really get it myself, but I didn’t remove it because I was curious about it. But if it proves useful, you can have it Master. Anything that’s mine also belongs to you.”

Not sure how to feel about that very game styled money making, Andrew turned his attention back to Tannath, upon which the harpy nodded and pocketed it… somewhere in her skirt.

“Alright then. Since you’ve paid for five people, then you’ll get the VIP treatment. But I’ll have to run it by the captain first though. On that note, the dingy is here. We can fit about 4 on it at a time, so we’ll need to make about 2 trips. Since you guys paid the premium, you get to go first… but we can only fit about 4 of you. One of you is going to need to stay behind.”

Andrew looked at the small boat in question and saw that she was right. It was larger then what one would expect of many smaller boats, but the capacity was at four. Nodding his head, Andrew turned to look at Jonathans group.

“That okay with you guys?”

Jonathan only nodded his head.

“It’s fine.”

Andrew nodded his head before he turned back to his own group.

“Alright. Unoma, Labareda… Morgana and Jonathan, how about you all go first?”

Labareda and Unoma looked on at Andrew blankly for a moment before they unanimously shouted at him.

“WHAT?!/WHY?!”

Somewhat expecting the reaction, Andrew held his hands up as if to placate them.

“I want to make this fair since Jonathan and his group have been down there much longer then we have. I want you both going in the event something happens.”

Labareda and Unoma both looked mighty annoyed at Andrew, Lab actually looking angry about the fact that she would be separated from him for a period of time, but at the same time, Andrew only smiled at the both of them before he indicated both Sarya and Serena.

“Relax, there are two very capable individuals here in the event anything happens upon us here. But I don’t think it will.”

Andrew thought about that for a moment before he looked back at Jonathan, realizing that he was basically forcing this on them.

“If that’s okay with you Jonathan?”

The blonde male only smiled at him before he chuckled to himself.

“It’s fine. Though you don’t need to go out of the way to accommodate me and my group, I do appreciate your sentiments though.”

Letting out a low sigh, Andrew nodded his head at him before the sound of Tannath clearing her throat caused him to look at her.

“Well if that’s all settled, then I need everyone to get in the boat who’s going. Everyone else who’s staying behind, we should be back in a few minutes, so please wait patiently.”

Andrew only nodded his head before he watched the aforementioned people get on the small ship, Lab and Unoma both looking highly irritated at the fact that they had to physically leave their master behind, even if it was at his command. It didn’t take long for them to get underway, the group already getting out into the water, though Andrew was quick to note that it wasn’t nearly as fast as when Silque had come on her own with the boat. Since it had taken her about five minutes to get here, he could only guess that it would take ten for them to get to the boat, along with another five for her to make it back, meaning they had another fifteen minutes to kill. In that Time, Andrew had to bring himself to start to think about what it was he was going to need to do in the near future though, his plans being non-existent in regards to his current situation. Letting out a low sigh, Andrew only looked out at the horizon, his mind running the same question over and over.

_‘What to do now…’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is always appreciated


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback appreciated.

Chapter 10

Labareda let out a low sigh as she slumped herself over the side of the Dingy, her listless attitude causing even Unoma to pity the familiar.

“I don’t like it anymore then you do you know, but you can stop being such a baby about it.”

The infernal looked over at the Dark Mage with a cross look in her eyes.

“I’m not being a baby about it. I can voice my displeasure about it if I want. It was a direct order from our Master anyway, so I couldn’t have gone against it even if I wanted to.”

Despite the annoyance at the statement, Labareda knew that she was in fact being far sulkier about this then what would be considered normal for her. Though honestly, she couldn’t help it. In the time she had spent with Andrew, her love had well exceeded beyond the norm for a master and servant, more closely falling into the category of massive lust and adoration. She didn’t say anything about it to Andrew, but she was doing her best to keep herself in check. As much as she loved her master, she had no intention of showing off such embarrassing displays of emotions to those not part of their little group. She had been having a particularly hard time of it when Aruma had shown up, Labareda not sure how the girl would react to her master in the near future. She knew that even Unoma was also having a hard time of it lately as well, though she had the advantage of being a little more faithful to her desires then the demon herself, so she had no doubt that Unoma would try something on the boat either today or tomorrow. Though it was easy to see that she was equally annoyed about the current situation as she was, the silver haired mage letting a low sigh escape her lips followed by a choice set of words. 

“I want to snuggle… Labareda, come here and let me snuggle you.”

The familiar, having been this very woman’s familiar so many years ago, knew what ‘snuggling’ normally entailed for her if she did so.

“We are currently on a boat with two other people. Don’t you have any sense of timing? I swear, you might even be worse than when I was your familiar.”

Completely ignoring the infernal, Unoma grabbed the familiar by the head before she buried her into her bosom, holding the familiar close. Labareda did not react angrily though, simple letting out a defeated sigh before she looked up at the dark mage.

“And just like before, you don’t have any care as to what other people are saying. I’m surprised you listen to master at all.”

“That’s because it’s nice being the one serving for once. He lets me do so much and rewards me for the smallest things. It’s like he spoils me so much, though I was expecting him to make far more demands of me when I signed on… particularly of the sexual nature.”

Labareda only chuckled to herself as she made herself comfortable, turning herself around as she nestled herself into the woman’s body behind her. 

“Your dissatisfied with the current arrangement? I thought you would have been ecstatic to have a master like him.”

The dark mage began to stroke the familiar’s hair as she responded.

“Well, I am. Don’t mistake my current gripe about one small thing about him being total dissatisfaction with the situation. I personally think he’s holding back because of Aruma. With you, he’s more than willing to fuck your brains out if you asked, but with Aruma around, he’s been trying to take on a more… what’s the word I’m looking for here…”

At that point, the other two people on the boat spoke up, not wanting to be left in this unusual conversation for much longer.

“He seems to take on a more father like role for her. Unlike you beasts of lust, the girl is innocent and is not a mamono. She does not have the energy that your kind does in that regard.”

Unoma and Labareda looked at Morgana as she huffed, though it was hard to take her seriously when she was gripping the sides of the dingy with white knuckled fear. It was obvious that she did not handle boats very well. Her attempt to keep her face level was admirable in of itself though. Jonathan, who wisely never said anything about it, only nodded.

“Father or older brother like figure for her. It’s easy to see since he does many of the things I do with my own younger sister.”

Both the familiars looked at the duo, taking what Jonathan said to note while looking at Morgana with some barely concealed grins. Morgana wasn’t going to let the looks she got deter her though, so she simply ignored them.

“An older brother you say? It makes sense seeing as Master has been nothing but friendly to her. Though it’s probably because Arumas situation is rather lamentable, even I would be hard pressed to not treat her kindly. Though the way she described her situation… you wouldn’t happen to know anything about it would you Unoma?”

Labareda looked up at the woman, Unoma only shaking her head.

“I may have assisted with his sealing, but many parts of the plan were left to others outside of myself. Though it wouldn’t surprise me if the other mages back then had employed such methods. It was a terrible time, and everyone wanted Oda gone. I don’t think they cared much how they did it.”

Jonathan only shook his head at Unoma.

“That doesn’t make it right though.”

Lab looked at Jonathan with a somewhat cross look.

“She wasn’t disagreeing with that statement so you know. And she’s vastly more aware of the situation then you are, so she knows what was done to her was wrong.”

The sounds of beating wings interrupted anymore conversation that would have been had, forcing everyone to look up and see Tannath swooping down low. When she was right over head, she began to glide right over then, keeping with their speed easily with her size. 

“We should be almost there. If you can fly up to the deck, that would be great. Otherwise, I’ll go and drop the ladder for you.”

Without another word, the group watched the harpy woman fly to the ship. A few more moments later and the small dingy began to slow down enough to where when they got to the boat, they only made a soft bump when they connected with it. This then caused the excitable mermaid who had been pulling them to pop her head out of the water. 

“Alright! We’re here! Just go ahead and head on up and the captain should meet with you! In the meantime, me and Tan are gonna go and get the rest of your friends! I would try to get the details ironed out with the captain before the rest of them get here if I was you guys.” 

Speaking some surprising amount of sense in regards to that, the group could only nod in some agreement. Bringing their attention to the rope ladder that they had come upon, nobody said anything when Morgana practically bolted for it and started to climb it as quickly she could, somewhat jarring the boat in the process. When she was more than halfway up, Labareda looked over to Jonathan with a curious look on her face.

“So is she not a fan of boats or…”

With that hanging question still in the air, the blonde youth only let out a low sigh.

“She just doesn’t like the ocean in general. I’m not allowed to say more than that. Anyway, after you two. I can wait.”

Unoma and Labareda only looked to each other before they chuckled to each other. Unoma pat him on the side of the face like one would a child, confusing the youth.

“That’s sweet dear, but you go ahead. Lab and I have our own methods.”

With that statement out of the way, Unoma simply took flight and flew up to the side of the boat. Labareda for her part simply seemed to vanish into thin air, leaving Jonathan confused momentarily. He didn’t ponder on it anymore then that though, magic being the most obvious explanation for it all. Meanwhile, on the deck of the boat, Labareda reappeared followed closely by Unoma who touched down next to her. Very shortly after Morgana managed to crawl her way over the starboard bough, where she then quickly got to her feet and dusted herself off, as if to try to negate the rather desperate appearance she held a mere moment before. Labareda and Unoma then watched as she quickly made her way much closer to one of the phallic shaped masts in the middle of the ship. They opted to not say anything about it, and they didn’t want to waste the mental energy to do so when Tannath sailed overhead and landed on the bridge next to a person they had not seen before. 

From the body shape and certain other very telling features, the person standing at the helm of the ship was a woman. Easy to tell with the woman’s motherly curves and large breasts that just barely seemed to be held back by her dark blue cheongsam. Another of the woman’s very defining traits was that she was a mamono of a bovine nature, though Labareda and Unoma where not sure of what variety. Her horns where a pale ivory and seemed to be positioned behind her ears, curved upward in a crescent moon but not very big either. Her hair was a pale white color with a fading green gradient from the middle of her back-length hair to the tips, the fur on her curly long tail and bovine legs of the same color. One of the most unusual things was the third eyes in the middle of her forehead, it being a deep red in comparison to her gentle blue pair. She looked very motherly and inviting, even if she was tall and beautifully built. She wore no hat, but the hair tubes that framed her face did a good job of keeping the hair out of her face. She held a book in one hand as she gently stared down at the group, as if she was checking something before she let her eyes linger on Labareda for a moment longer than the rest. 

She didn’t seem to think much of it though, the familiar only looking up at the woman with her usual smug haughtiness.

“Captain Kanneth no doubt.”

The woman simply nodded at the familiar, a warm smile on her face.

“You would be correct in that regard. I am the captain of the Blissful Tide. No doubt you are the first group… but may I have the names of the ones who paid the premium? Or is this all of you who did?”

Labareda shook her head before she jerked a paw over her shoulder at Unoma.

“My name is Labareda and the silver haired woman behind me is Unoma. We are part of the group of five who paid for the VIP service. The rest will be coming by boat, our Master opting to let most of the other group come on first. The rest are called Serena, Aruma, and my master, Andrew.”

The captain looked to Tannath for a moment, the harpy pulling out the gold coin and giving it to her to examine. The woman only needed to look at it for a mere moment before she nodded her head. Tan only nodded her head at her before she turned around and took off again in the direction of the island. No doubt going to fetch the rest of the passengers. Kanneth only watched her for a moment longer before she turned back to face the group. However, she seemed to realize where she was standing and put a hand on her cheek in some embarrassment.

“I see… I also apologize. This is no way for me to greet my guests.”

The captain moved away from the railing and began to make her way down the steps to stand on the same level. Labareda found herself agreeing with that idea, the demon not very used to people outside of her master(s) talking from a position higher than her. Though she opted to be somewhat humble about it. But not out of a sense of respect or anything, just out of a sense that being discourteous or rude to the highest-ranking individual on this boat would cause trouble for her master. It didn’t take her very long before Kanneth was standing in front of the group, the disarming smile still on her face.

“Well then, I’m happy to greet you all personally. As I have said, I am Captain Kanneth and I will be in charge of your safety on this trip back to Gwent. Now, if you would like, those who did not pay the premium normally end up sleeping in the crew’s quarters, but those who did pay the premium are provided a special room under the captain quarters. It should be able to comfortably hold all five of you while we make our way back.”

Unoma simply nodded her head before she spoke up.

“Fine with me. Can you go ahead and direct us to it, my feet are killing me.”

Labareda only looked at the dark mage with a neutral expression before she turned back to the captain.

“I apologize about her. She’s a sloth given human form, why our master likes her so much despite being such a dead lay is beyond me.”

Kanneth only chuckled to herself before she pulled a small flask out and opened it. A small ball of light floated out and began to float toward the door on the other end of the ship.

“Just follow the guide light and it’ll show you where it is. I would show you directly or send one of my crew to show you, but everyone is rather busy and on high alert right now.”

Jonathan cocked his eyebrow upward in some interest.

“Why is that.”

“The sea beasts are agitated by something as of late, and two of my stronger members are currently patrolling the area around us to help keep them away or to tell me if it’s something particularly dangerous. Tanneth and Silque are busy getting the rest of your party while the last of my crew is down below to pull us out in the event of an emergency. I hope you can understand.”

Labareda only shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s fine. And Unoma is already following the light as is, so I wouldn’t worry about what she may say about the situation either.”

The captain smiled at the little demon.

“That is a relief…”

She stopped talking after that, but Labareda was quick to note that she was staring at her again. Curious, she opted to speak up.

“I know my master, Unoma, and Serena find me attractive, but I thought it was only regulated to my group.”

Captain Kanneth, realizing that she had been caught staring again, gave the familiar an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t meaning to, but a few things about you are rather interesting to me is all.”

Putting her hands/ paws on her hips curiously, Lab looked at the bovine woman.

“Like what exactly?”

“Well, your clothing for starters. You and your friend are wearing rather unusual items. Is that common for where you come from? Is there another reason for it?”

Looking down, Labareda realized that she and Unoma where still wearing the patchwork boar skin that Serena had made for them. Though it was good for a covering, it didn’t really look like clothing.

“Ah… that… many a circumstance forced us into this attire. If it wouldn’t trouble you, I would like to request clothing for me and my other party members. Two for females and one for males if you have any. I’ll be sure to pay of course.”

The captain nodded her head.

“We are a transport vessel for people, but we might have something laying around that previous passengers may have left behind. I’ll send Silque to look when she gets back.”

Labareda nodded her head.

“I greatly appreciate it.”

“Not a problem for a high paying customer. We will set off when the last of your group gets here. Until then, please feel free to explore the ship if you so wish, though I do ask that you not enter the storage room.”

Labareda only nodded her head before she watched Kanneth begin talking with Jonathan and Morgana. Seeing that Unoma was long gone and no doubt already in the private quarters, Labareda made her way to follow, wanting to inspect the state of the room before her master made it to the ship.

Meanwhile, said Master was watching as the dingy being pulled by Silque was brought to the shore, the mermaid having made excellent time in coming back. The girl popped her head out of her water and gave Aruma a big smile. Though Andrew was a little concerned about how fast she had swum. Silque waved at them all to come on board.

“Hurry up you slowpokes! The faster we get back, the faster we can get back to Gwent!”

Andrew and the rest laughed at her cheery attitude, though Andrew showed some concern behind it.

“Sure you don’t want to rest? You look like you haven’t stopped moving since you got here.”

However, the lazy voice of Tannath above him caused him to look up.

“Don’t worry about her. That girl has far too much energy to spare. She’d swim all day and night if given half a chance. In fact, she’s done it a number of times just to prove she could.”

“That’s right! I take pride in my speed and endurance!”

The girl puffed her chest up in pride, causing Andrew to huff in amusement while Serena and Sarya only looked to each other amused. Aruma seemed vastly impressed by the girls boasts and seemed bright eyed. Letting out a low breath, Andrew stepped forward.

“Well, if that’s the case then we better go ahead and get going then.”

“You got that right. I’ve been away from civilization for way too long to be happy.” Sarya moved forward as she quickly got on the boat, not even causing it to tip as she moved with practiced grace and ease. Serena was quick to follow up behind her, though she was a little hesitant to get on the small dingy at first. Andrew walked behind Aruma as she looked at the edge of the boat, looking just a little nervous. Andrew placed his hands on her shoulders to reassure her like he had in the cave, causing her to look over her shoulder at him.

“You’ll be fine. I promise I’ll keep you safe if anything happens.”

She only looked at him for a moment longer before she nodded at him, any concern she had quickly disappearing from her eyes. Holding her hand while she got on the boat (like a true gentleman would do) Andrew got in right after her, Serena and Sarya sitting across from them while Aruma sat next to him, cutely holding his arm for physical and emotional support. Andrew reached over with his free hand and held one of hers for extra reassurance. 

Seeing that everyone was on the boat and ready to go, Tannath and Silque looked to each other with a nod. Tannath quickly took off into the air and Silque only took a moment to look behind her shoulder at her passengers.

“Alright you all, I’ll try to make this as fast and comfortable as possible, but don’t fall out okay? If nothing dangerous tries to get you, then a Sea Bishop would marry you off in a heartbeat!”

Three of the four passengers where not sure what she meant by that, but nobody had the chance to ask when she dove under the water and pulled the dingy out into the open ocean, picking up speed quickly before they were at Silques pace. Andrew looked out over the edge and watched the water zip by, impressed at how fast she could swim even with a load as big as the dingy and several passengers. Muttering to himself, Andrew spoke out loud.

“Good lord, this girl has got to be going thirty… maybe even forty miles an hour. She’s really strong…”

He had mostly said that to himself, but Sarya had heard him.

“Miles per hour? What’s that?”

Looking over, he could see that he had both the girl’s attention, Aruma looking out at the water as it seemed to zip on by and at the wake left in their trail.

“Sorry, I guess you wouldn’t know what that was. Miles per hour is a measurement of speed where I come from. But I guess you wouldn’t understand Kilometers nor the physics involved in the acts of speed and motion.”

Seeing that Both Serena and Sarya had some confused expressions on in their faces, Andrew could only affirm that he had been correct.

“I’ll put it in a way that’s understandable. She’s swimming as fast as an arrow continuously.”

Looking out at the speed they were going, Sarya found herself mentally agreeing with him.

“I see what you mean… that is pretty impressive.”

The conversation didn’t continue along that same path of thought though, and Aruma bending over Andrews lap to look into the water caused him to bring his attention to the girl currently on him… and the face full of wing he was getting as well. Deciding to interact with her more, Andrew gently held onto her clothing as he pulled her back up and onto his lap.

“Interested in looking into the water? Here, let me hold onto you so you don’t fall in.”

Wrapping his arm around her waist to keep her situated in his lap, Andrew scooted a little closer to the dinghy’s edge so that they could look into the waves together. The angel of a girl was captivated by the rushing sunlight across the water, the ocean looking like a dazzling mirror to her. Andrew couldn’t help but smile at her wide-eyed wonder before he spoke up.

“Do you like the Ocean Aruma?”

The girl turned to look at him with a bright smile on her face.

“Nh! I never got to see it when I was back in my old world… and when I came to this one, I never got to see it here either. Being out on the water is something I never got to do before.”

Andrew slowly nodded his head at her, his smile a little strained at this point upon hearing that. 

“I see… I can understand that you couldn’t do it here… but why couldn’t you do it in your old world?”

“My Brother. He never let me leave the palace of the winged heaven tribe because he said it was dangerous.”

Andrew felt his joy evaporate at this point, his smile now a grimace.

“That seems a little absurd of him to do. Anywhere in the world is dangerous, even right in your own home.”

Aruma shook her head at him, leaning back into his arm and looking at him with a sad look in her face.

“It wasn’t so much the world that was dangerous. My brother told me that my power was the dangerous one. He said that if I got out and an accident happened, I might cause irreversible damage.”

At that point, Sarya felt she had to point something out, the disbelief in her voice very easy to identify. 

“A precious thing like you? I don’t believe that for a second.”

Aruma only smiled at the elf, Sarya’s words bringing her some small manner of comfort. Andrew however, wasn’t willing to throw away what she was saying so casually like Sarya was.

“Why would he think that? Unless he’s completely devoid of all reason and just a straight up asshole, there must have been cause for him to think that way.”

Andrew tried to ignore the less then pleased looks he was getting from both Serena and Sarya. However, Aruma didn’t look annoyed by his question, though she did retain her sorrowful look.

“That would be because my power was far too much for me to handle at the time. Even after several years of helping me to train my power, I still had problems trying to control it. Then a war broke out… and after that I don’t really remember. I woke up here, and my power was used to seal up… Oda did you call him? Or his body at least. Right now, I’m still very weak, so my power can’t rage against my will. But given time it should recover… and then I’ll be afraid of what I can do then…”

Turning her gaze away from Andrew, Aruma looked out at the water, her expression still and somewhat bitter. Andrew only wrapped his arm around her a bit more to hold her closer, his mind working on something to say that would help boost her mood. However, it was Sarya who came to the rescue then.

“If what your saying is true Aruma, then I think the person who can help you the most is the person who’s lap your currently sitting on.”

Not only did Aruma look at her curiously, Andrew and Serena did as well. Seeing that she was going to need to explain, Sarya smiled at the group before she held her hand up in an explaining manner. 

“Think about it for a second, you spent the last… what? One thousand or more years holding back the power of Oda even if it was against your will. Andrew here happens to hold that power in his own body. I’m sure that with some time, training, and creativity, Andrew can become equally if not more powerful then you are. Then you would never have to worry about going out of control anymore.”

For a moment, Aruma could only look at her in some confusion, as if the words that had come out of her mouth where hard to comprehend in some way. Andrew though could only look at Sarya with a in impressed look.

“That actually makes a lot of sense. Something tells me that it would work too, but I would need to figure out how my own powers work first before this becomes a reality.”

Sarya could only smugly look at him before she only shrugged her shoulders.

“Well then you should get on that. No time like the present to start.”

Andrew couldn’t help but grunt at her, her words only ringing true. But it was the young girl in his lap looking up at him with the barest hint of hope in her eyes that made him smile.

“Is that true? Can my powers really be controlled if you learn how to master your own?”

Andrew only nodded once.

“It sounds possible. But I need to learn more, make no mistake though. I will do everything in my own ability to master this power I have… or at least get it to a point to where I can help you.”

Aruma could only nod her head at him, but the bright smile on her face was unmistakable to him and those looking at the group. Aruma leaned herself into Andrews embrace, her head nuzzling into his chest as she felt some strong sense of affection for him and the hope he had managed to grant her. Andrew only let her do so, and the rest of that trip was spent this way, Sarya and Serena only smiling at the duo. Eventually though, they had managed to make it to the boat, Silque attaching the rope to something in the water when they got there, and Tannath flying above them only to disappear onto the deck out of sight. Andrew let the women go up first, Aruma struggling a little with the rope ladder as Sarya did her best to help keep her safe as she climbed. Leaving Serena and Andrew to ascend after them, though Serena couldn’t help but tell Andrew not to peek at her ass as they climbed. Andrew said he wouldn’t, but he still did it anyway seeing as he had to look up as she ascended in front of him.

Finally, everyone managed to get up on the deck, where they were greeted by Captain Kanneth herself, the bovine woman talking with Tannath before she had noticed that the group was up and waiting for her. Putting a quick stop to said conversation, Kanneth made her way to the group, her eyes scanning each of them for a moment before they directed themselves to Andrew, where she seemed to zero in on him. Only slightly curious about her gaze, Andrew waited until she was close enough to converse with and come to a complete stop before he said anything.

“Hello there. Are you the illustrious Captain Kanneth I’ve heard about?”

The woman nodded her head before she gave him a smile.

“You would be correct. I take it your Andrew then? It was the only name that had a masculine tone to it when your familiar mentioned who else we were waiting for.”

Andrew nodded his head at her before he spoke up.

“Yes. You would be correct. I’m Andrew, the younger one with the six wings is Aruma and the twin tailed red head is Serena.”

Kanneth only nodded her head before she looked to the elf of the group.

“Then I take it you must be Sarya. Your party is already down in the crew’s courters and await you there.”

Sarya only nodded once before she waved at everyone and walked in that direction, leaving the other three with the captain. Once again Andrew couldn’t help but notice the intense look she was giving him, but again, he chose not to comment on it. As if having read his mind, she only smiled at them pleasantly before she spoke up.

“Very well then, if you would like, your VIP treatment allows you a special room down below deck, the other two members of your party already there. Though if you don’t mind, I would like to speak with you privately Ser Andrew.”

Curious, Andrew only cocked his head to the side before he responded.

“Why is that?”

“I would like to work out some particulars of our contract with you. The manner of your arrival and the number of people with you something that I believe must be discussed in some detail.”

Thinking about it for a moment, Andrew wasn’t sure what exactly would need to be discussed, but he wasn’t the one who set the terms. He just paid the cash… though technically it was Labareda who did, but he wasn’t going to stick to that point. Simply looking at her for a moment longer, Andrew nodded his head.

“Alright then. I guess if you say we need to talk about it.”

Turning his attention back to Serena and Aruma, Andrew smiled at the younger of the two.

“How about you go on ahead and get some more sleep alright?”

“Nh.”

Was all she responded with before she stifled a small yawn. Serena looked to the girl before she put a hand on Aruma’s shoulder and guided her to where she saw Sarya head down a moment ago. Seeing that the both of them where already below deck, Andrew looked to the captain and held his hand out to indicate for her to go ahead.

“Alright, go ahead then.”

Captain Kanneth turned herself around though and spoke over her shoulder at him.

“Let us head to my quarters. Though I trust my crew, such matters should be discussed over a hot cup of tea and some things to eat. Would you not agree?”

“I agree with something to drink along with something nice to eat. A month down in the Labyrinth can really make you miss the simpler pleasures in life after all.” 

Though Andrew was following along with the conversation and being polite, he couldn’t help but put a few things together about the situation that didn’t seem to add up. First being that she had singled him out to talk with. He wasn’t sure if that was common practice, but he at least figured that she would want to speak with everyone in his group since they were pretty much paying for the grand service for everyone in his party. The other thing he noted was that outside of everyone, she seemed to be zeroing in on him. Whether from some unknown interest or hidden ill-intent, he couldn’t tell. The only thing Andrew knew he could do was either ignore her and join with his party downstairs, or go with this mysterious, if not very sexy, bovine woman. Opting to simply go with the flow on this one, Andrew could only mentally lament about if he was about to make a mistake. Following along, they very quickly came upon an ornate door.

However, it didn’t seem to have any kind of doorknob for her to grab onto. Yet, with a wave of her hand and some quickly muttered words, Andrew felt a small rush of magic come from her along with the door opening up in front of her. Magical lock to be sure, but he also felt that he didn’t understand enough about magic yet to open it himself if he was given the chance. Nor was he sure he would need to find a reason to do so. His monologue ended abruptly when she turned around and held her arm out to indicate for him to go inside. 

“Go ahead and head on in first.”

Politely nodding at her in thanks, Andrew did just that. As he passed the threshold of the door, he found himself wondering what it was like inside. What he saw though wasn’t very surprising, but he still saw some things that where odd. As would be considered normal for a room like this, there were several bookcases lined with what looked to be books of seamanship along with what looked to be star charts, trip logs, and other record keeping items. Though he was curious to see other books on another shelf of a scholarly pursuit. Even more surprising was that he was able to read some of the book titles. He opted to ignore several books of the more erotic nature, not sure if she would appreciate if he was peeping on any of her sexual fantasies. Another thing in the room was a table that he dared to say had a map on it along with several seafaring devices scattered about on it. Outside of the dresser and bed in the room, the only other thing that stood out was the ornate chest at the foot of said bed. He wasn’t about to go prying into it though. However, the bed itself was unnaturally large for the amount of people in the room. Again, he felt it was something best left alone unless it was brought up… or if he got majorly bored. Finding one of the available chairs next to the table, Andrew made himself comfortable as the captain made her way past him and opened the chest at the foot of her bed. Andrew watched her rummage around in it for a moment, his eyes drawn to her ass as she had bent down and watched it move back and forth as she seemed to be deciding what to do while she was down there. 

Andrew had the feeling that it was intentional, but didn’t have the time to say anything about it before she was already back up on her feet/hooves with a tray in hand and a tea set in the other. She quickly came to sit across from him, her hands already at work in making tea, using magic to seemingly pull water out of thin air. 

“Alright then. Let us go ahead and get down to business then.”

Andrew nodded as he brought his attention to her face.

“I agree… so, what do we need to talk about. And I don’t mean for whatever flimsy reason you opted to use to get me in here. I mean the real reason you seem so intent on Being alone with me.”

Andrew noticed that she stopped for a second, but it was so momentary that he was sure he would have missed it had he not been looking for it. However, she seemed to chuckle as she continued on.

“I see you are someone who is both observant and quick to the point. I feel you should learn a little tact in your conversational skills, but I also feel that you can be quite tactful in that regard if you so wished. Very well, if you so desire, I will go ahead and ask my questions.”

Getting himself comfortable, Andrew put one leg over the other and steepled his fingers together as he watched her levitate the teapot some several inches into the air. He watched her light a magical fire under it as well, finding himself curious about how she did it seeing as it was just free-floating fire.

“Alright then… my first question would be… you are not someone from this world, are you?”

Not acting surprised in the least considering the style of his clothing, Andrew only nodded his head.

“You would be correct. I take it this wouldn’t be the first time for you or that it isn’t that uncommon for this world.”

“You would be right. Though it may be uncommon, otherworlders do tend to drop in from time to time. However, I would have thought you would be more surprised about my revelation.”

Andrew shrugged his shoulders.

“I kinda figured someone knew at this point. And It’s not like I was going to keep it a secret… unless being from another world is a bad thing.”

“Not at all. In the many years since Oda’s attempted destruction of this world, any outsider that came in to help replenish the world’s population was considered a great boon. The Chief God and Demon Lord encouraging people to be brought in… sometimes unwilfully. Though I had heard that the practice had been dying out some six hundred or so years ago. Nowadays it’s very rare for it to happen, and it’s almost entirely by accident.”

Andrew nodded his head, though he was distracted when a plate hovered into his peripheral and he turned to look at it. A tray was hovering in mid-air coming to rest on the table with what looked to be some tea cakes and other small snacks. Not even thinking, Andrew reached out and plucked one from the plate as it went past his head and onto the table, though he simply looked at it for a moment before he spoke up. 

“I see… I’m not sure what the manner of my own spiriting away would fall under, but since no one was there to greet me, I would think it fell more under the accidental category, I won’t rule anything out yet though. But I’m curious, outside of my clothes, was there anything else that you used to determine my outsider status?”

Looking at him curiously, Kanneth reached up and pulled the kettle from the overhead fire, said flame dissipating as she removed the pot and began pouring herself a cup.

“I did yes. It might come as a surprise, but I’ve seen far more outlandish clothes then the ones your wearing now. No, what I mainly used to determine your origins was a kind of spiritual detection magic. Denizens of this world happen to have a unique signature to them. Its unmistakable truth be told, so when someone new arrives to this world, I can make no mistake… though I will admit, yours was… very odd. Which made me cautious of you… and if I’m to be truthful, I still am.” 

Andrew nodded at her slowly before he took a bite into the thing he had taken from the tray (a cookie of some sort, which tasted delicious.) before diverted his attention around the cabin. 

“I see… I take it your cautious of that energy that’s no doubt radiating off of me like some kind of killer wave of murder, amaright?”

At that, she blinked a few times blankly before a small laugh escaped her lips. Andrew found it cute when she covered the lower half of her face in an attempt to suppress it.

“Ha ha… I can’t help but wonder how perceptive you actually are dear guest. Actually, do you mind if I call you by your name?”

Andrew nodded his head.

“Sure.”

“Thank you, Andrew… and yes, you would be correct in my wariness being that of your bloodlust and power. However, I also have the impression that your holding it back, albeit not very well.” 

“Your right on that one. I’m no student of magic, and my own familiar seems intent on just keeping me on the basics… I would think I’m doing pretty well in that regard, but she hasn’t mentioned anything to me about it. Anyway, is that all you wanted to ask? I get the feeling there’s more to it then just asking if I dropped out of the Multiverse into your particular doorstep.”

Taking a sip of the tea she had poured out for herself, and in light of the situation Andrew cup as well, the captain nodded her head.

“Yes, the otherworlder part was just one part of it… the other part had to do with your energy, but all of it comes down to something else entirely. Allow me a question first before I begin to explain. Seeing as you are not aware of this world, I can’t help but ask if you are familiar with the name of a particular creature. It was known to have nine eyes, three on its head, and three on its broad shoulders, along with six horns, though that is greatly debated. It was depicted as a chimeric creature of a bovine origin, more commonly a white ox, though in other regions of the world it may be depicted as a Lion with the same attributes. Are you familiar with it?”

“Bai Ze. If I recall correctly, your talking about a Bai Ze. Though depending on what legends your studying or regions you’re from, it could also be called a Hakutaku or a Kutabe.”

Andrew let out a proud little huff when he got done explaining, his overenthusiastic study of random Mythological monsters and legends having for once come in handy in a conversation. Kanneth looked genuinely surprised before she lightly smiled and bowed her head to him.

“I will admit, not many people are even aware of what I’m talking about when I mention that. Though in my many years I have yet to encounter anyone who was aware of all three of the names my species goes by. I would tip my hat to you had I ordained to wear it today.”

Feeling that pride swell just a little further, Andrew let out a small smug huff.

“It just goes to show that the most random of people can have the most random of knowledge. But it makes me curious as to what is has to do with what we are talking about.”

The Captain took another sip of her cup as Andrew nibbled into his cookie, the now revealed hakutaku taking a moment to collect the information she wished exposed to him.

“Seeing as you are aware of my species origins, I have a feeling that you might also know of some of our abilities as well. Amongst my kind, we are all gifted with the ability to gain information by seeing or touching things. Though touching it offers vastly more information then when we just look at it. However, amongst my kind, some of us are gifted with the rare ability to predict disasters or things that might cause disasters. Some months ago, I received a strong vision of this day and of the island you happen to find yourself on. I didn’t get much more information then that, but I could tell something terrible was in the making. I had also seen the image of a male standing at the shore, covered in what looked to be six dark shadows, waiting to be unleashed upon the land. But even worse was the man on the shore. Less like a man then a shadow cloaked demon, I could see nothing but destruction and death in his own visage.”

Andrew, who had stopped what he had been doing to listen, noticed how she seemed to hesitate. Waiting for her to continue, he was rewarded for his patience.

“But… at the same time, I couldn’t help but see something… human in him. Like he was hesitating over something. But before anything else could be seen, my vision ended there. Deciding to follow my vision, I sought this place out and waited patiently until I felt the pull of fate. Cutting a little ahead of the designated schedule that my friend had set up, I came back to this island. And lo and behold, I see you. You looking nothing like in the vision of course, but it feels like a subdued version of what I had seen.”

For a moment, Andrew didn’t say anything, but nodded his head at her before he spoke up, his mind coming to a decision.

“Well… sorry if I don’t look like a demon. And I sure don’t feel like causing death and destruction in my wake as you might put it. If anything, your shower is going to need to watch out as I’m liable to destroy the piping with how long I plan on showering.”

Finding humor to be a good way to detract from what she may think of him, Andrew was happy to see that she didn’t look wary of him, though her curious gaze still remained behind the mirth she had on her face.

“So I see… visions are finicky things after all, and when I do get visions, they aren’t absolute. But I still take some caution in what I can see.”

“Perfectly acceptable. Though I don’t feel like a doom bringer upon the land, who’s to say your vision won’t come true as long as the right trigger is in place?”

Nodding her head as she let out a low sigh, Captain Kanneth only looked at him with some tired understanding.

“Also true.”

Despite the gravity of what had been told to him, Andrew didn’t feel that much different nor very perturbed by what he had heard. Maybe he had difficulty believing it because it just didn’t sound like him? But at the same time, he knew human nature, even his own, could be a mysterious thing. Letting out a low sigh of his own, Andrew finally grabbed the tea cup that had been set before him and took a sip of it, the hot tea now to a lukewarm temperature. Letting out a content sigh, Andrew took a much deeper drink from his cup before he looked to the captain again.

“Well… you asked your questions I suppose and I hope I gave you the answers you where looking for.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I don’t feel danger coming from you as a person, outside of your magical aura that is. But even that is being suppressed. Otherwise, I could only mistake you for an odd outsider at this point.”

Andrew grinned at her as he drained the last of what was in his cup.

“I suppose that’s a good thing then. Otherwise, I don’t know what else we might need to talk about.”

The captain let a sheepish grin cross her face when Andrew said that.

“Well, there is one other thing. I wasn’t lying when I said I needed to talk with you about the premium service you had signed up for.”

“Oh.” He said with a slightly bemused expression. “I had thought that had just been a flimsy excuse.”

“No no, I really did need to talk with you about that. You see, I get the feeling Tannath didn’t explain properly what came with this service. Alongside the better treatment and the private room, there does happen to be a few more perks that go with it.”

Andrew, now curious, found himself leaning forward a bit in his chair as he put his cup down and to listen in on her more.

“Well that sounds interesting.”

“That would be because it is. Normally we don’t offer the premium voyage to woman unless they just want a room to themselves. For men, this happens to come with the added perk of… shall we say, allowing them to vent any long-term sea voyage urges? I might add that this was agreed upon by all the members of my crew…”

That motherly smile and gentle disposition was quick to change in Andrews eyes. Though her face was still smiling, Andrew could see a lewd light in them along with how her body that had looked so conservative a moment ago, seemed a dash more open with the amount of awareness that was going into how much of herself she was showing off. Where she had been sitting properly a few moments ago, Andrew couldn’t help but notice that it seemed more relaxed, more open… and very inviting looking. But even with the way the captain was acting right this moment, Andrew couldn’t help but think to the other members he had seen. Tannath’s taught ass and body allowing his mind to run wild while any thought of that seemingly innocent mermaids nude form pressed against him in any way caused a most licentious light to appear in his eyes. However, despite his bodies need for some sexual action, Andrew felt it would be best to put it in the back burner for the time being.

“Hum… I’ll have to thank you for letting me know about that captain… I may end up making good on it at some point in this trip… but for now, I just want a hot shower and maybe a nap…”

Any signs of a possible sexual venture seemingly having been dissipated, the Captains mannerisms and body language went right back to those of the conservative and demure woman he had seen a moment before.

“Understandable. Feel free to do as you might wish on the trip… though do keep in mind the time and place of myself and the crew if the urge should hit you at any point… unless you enjoy being watched that is.”

Andrew only smiled at her with a lewd grin on his face.

“Not sure, never been one for public displays, though who’s to say I wouldn’t enjoy it?”

With that last little bit from his mouth, Andrew stood back up and made his way to the door. He found it unlocked and easy to open, but he turned himself around and nodded at the captain.

“Thank you for your time Captain.”

She only nodded at him in turn before he turned back around and made his way onto the deck. Andrew made his way to the door on the other end of the ship where he had seen Sarya walk to and figured that he would figure out how to get to where he needed to be with some random exploration of his own. Though he took a quick look around as he walked, and he was surprised to see that Tannath was looking out over the railing with a spyglass in her hands… wings… he still wasn’t sure how she was holding that without any opposable thumbs on her. He wouldn’t have thought else of it, but suddenly he seemed to be hit with what the captain had said a few minutes ago. Seeing that he had paid a premium, he could do as he wished with the crew if he felt so obliged to. Feeling kind of adventurous in that regard, Andrew opted to test and see how far that went. Opting to keep himself as quite as possible, Andrew slowly walked up behind Tannath, the Harpy currently invested in keeping an eye out for something. 

After getting as close as he could, which was almost right on top of her, Andrew found himself mentally debating the action he had previously thought of.

‘Really? Are you really gonna do this just to check that privilege? What if she’s in the middle of something important? What if she’s not in the mood? Better yet, what if she’s in the mood after you do what your about to do? You gonna take responsibility for that?”

And yet, despite the mental musings about these questions floating around, he still found his hands reaching up, and reaching around her body to grab her less then modest sized chest. Andrew’s hands where not to be idle either, gently squeezing the breast flesh in his palms as he kneaded and massaged her savory tits in his hands. They felt to him like cup-able packs of liquid gel, somewhat elastic, but still malleable in his hands with his caress. The sound of a slightly surprised moan from in front of him told him that Tannath had not been expecting his hands, but he was surprised when he saw the harpy whip her head around, a flush across her face with a confused look in her eyes. She instantly recognized him, her expression looking just a slight bit annoyed, but she didn’t seem to be stopping him… not with actions at any rate. 

“What are you doing exactly?”

Deciding to be coy, Andrew only squeezed her nipples, eliciting a small squeak out of her.

“Was it not obvious? I was a little curious about your bust and I wanted to feel it. In even shorter words, I’m feeling you up.”

With what sounded like a small pleasurable moan, Tannath put her wings on his hands, forcing him to stop, but she didn’t remove them from her chest. Only turning her head to look at him, she gave him a look that was hard to decipher.

“I’m not opposed to this, but it would have to be at a later time. Right now I’m a little busy with keeping an eye out for the rest of the crew.”

Seeing that she wasn’t mad, Andrew pulled his hands away, but not before copping one more grope out of her bust as he did.

“Alright then. Sorry about that.”

Tannath only gave him a small smile before she shook her head.

“No, It’s fine. Since no one wants to pay for the specialty service, we generally don’t get a lot of chances to get sexual. If you still feel like getting your dick wet though, you can drop in on the captain, or even Imh’ege if you’re into that sort of thing.”

Andrew nodded at the mention of the captain, but the sound of an unfamiliar and unusual sounding name caused him to look at the Harpy curiously. 

“I’m sorry… who?”

Though she had been posed a question, Tannath simply looked back out at the ocean with her spyglass in hand. Thankfully, she wasn’t ignoring him.

“Sorry, I guess the captain didn’t tell you about the rest of the crew. Imh’ege is kinda like our ace in the hole if things get really nasty out here in the open sea. She rows the boat by herself or tackles any of the massive monsters that might show up. Otherwise she just stays in the bilge to stay moist.”

Andrew only gave her a confused look, as if he wasn’t sure about a few things she was talking about. Letting a sheepish smile cross her face out of his sight, she only laughed a little.

“Sorry, The bilge is basically where any water that gets into the ship collects. It’s basically the lowest part of the ship.”

“Ahhhhhhhhh…”

Letting the realization hit him, Andrew only nodded at her, but he was still curious.

“I take it that if she stays in the Bilge, she must be some kind of aquatic Monster?”

Andrew was quick to note that her whole body-language changed at that one word. It had ceased being lax and had instantly tensed up. Andrew had the feeling that he said something he shouldn’t have, and when she turned around to look at him, he knew how badly he had messed up from the pensive frown on her face.

“I hope you didn’t mean that when you called her a monster. Else myself and the rest of the crew are probably going to do everything in our power to make your trip a very nasty one.”

Raising his hands in some apology, Andrew shook his head.

“I’m sorry… I’m not very familiar with the term that you guys preferred to be called as… and so I forget it a lot… monster was just the first thing to come to mind was all, I’m sorry if that upset you.”

Looking him up and down with her yellow colored eyes, Tannath only coldly stared at him for a few more moments before the ice vanished from her gaze. 

“I see… I’m sorry then. Mamono take it as a great offense to be called monsters. Monsters are the spawn of the miasma left behind by the World Tyrant, and we have nothing to do with his ilk. I ask you please keep that in mind before you speak.”

Andrew nodded at her before he dropped his hands to his sides.

“Noted… I’ll make sure not to do it again… by the way… I know it probably isn’t any of my business… but how many more of the crew are there? You said you where waiting for them at this point?”

Content with his answer, Tannath turned her eyes back out into the ocean before she spoke up again.

“There are six of us in total. Myself, Silque, Imh’ege the Kraken down in the bilge, along with our two water dwellers. Fenella, our cook and the only Selkie you’ll ever meet this far east. And our usual drunk, Frida, a mershark with a liver as tough as her teeth. Then you have the captain. We are the crew to the Blissful Tide, and we keep this ship running very well for our numbers.”

Andrew found himself nodding at her, the harpy’s voice having grown fond as she had told him of the names of the rest of her crew. Andrew was thinking on the other members though, the Kraken and Mershark sounding easy enough to visualize. The Selkie was something he was having a hard time thinking of though. However, Andrew figured that he would meet them at a later date and thus let a low breath escape his mouth.

“I see… I have yet to met them, but I’m looking forward to it. Anyway, I’ll let you get back to it.”

Nodding in acknowledgment, Tannath only continued to look out into the ocean. Though as Andrew walked away, he heard her voice speaking to him.

“Hey, Andrew was it? If you’re still feeling up for it, I should be good for a fuck after dinner. Just look out for me and give me a call around here again.”

Only having turned his head, Andrew only gave a contemplative hum before he smiled more to himself.

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

With that out of the way, Andrew finally made his way to the door leading below deck. Well, that’s where he thought it would lead. He was partially right in that regard, but the door lead to a kitchen area, but there looked to be a large set of stairs further back that enforced his original idea that it would do such. Taking said stairs, Andrew looked around a moment or two before he saw the long hallway. Opting to check every door to see if it was the right one, Andrew came to find that most of them where either locked, or where not the room he was looking for. It wasn’t until he got to the end of the ship and heard voices behind the furthest door that he figured that he had found it. Thankfully, he hadn’t been wrong when he opened the door. Laying on the bed was Unoma, who looked as if she had already called it a day and was already asleep. Next to her was Aruma, who was equally unconscious and clinging to the dark mage like a body pillow. Aside from those two, Labareda and Serena where looking into a separate room off to the right, Andrew just now hearing what it was they where saying.

“An odd looking room to be sure, but I can’t say I have an idea for what it would be for.”

Serena looked at the demon in some exasperation.

“Well if you don’t know, then how would I know?”

“Because humans tend to have an inkling of an idea of what other humans might make.”

Walking into the room, Andrew spoke up to get their attention. 

“What are you two talking about?”

Looking back at him, Serena and Labareda saw Andrew coming into the room. Serena only waved at him, but Labareda abandoned her spot and trotted right up to Andrew, where she then hugged him around the middle while nuzzling her face into his abdomen.

“Master!”

Despite the fact that he had asked a question, Andrew couldn’t help but smile at Labs affection. He then reached down and gently ran his hand through her hair, the familiar making something of a content purring noise as he did. 

“I was only away for thirty minutes at most Labareda, no reason to act like I’ve been gone for longer then that.”

Looking up at him as she pressed her chin into his midsection, the familiar only puffed her lips in a semi-annoyed manner.

“Being away from you for any length of time is equivalent to torture master. I would still follow the order if you wanted me to go away from you, but otherwise all my time would be spent by your side.”

Letting out an amused huff from his lips, Andrew only reached down and stroked the demon’s cheek and ears. The girl closing her eyes as she enjoyed the attention without the interruptions of her familiar companion.

“I’ll keep that in mind… but my question still stands. What where you two talking about?”

Serena, being the one not lovingly stroked on the head at the moment, pointed into the room they had been standing in front of.

“Me and Lab where trying to figure out what this room was for.”

Curious, Andrew gave the red haired familiar one more gentle head stroke before he had to untangle her from his body. A task that took more effort that should have been used for such a mundane task. Finally working his way to where she was standing, Andrew looked into the room and was a little surprised to see that it was a shower room. 

“Huh… I had mostly been joking about that shower… but it looks like it was a real thing after all.”

Both redheads looked to each other in some confusion before they brought there attention back to Andrew. 

“Shower?”

Andrew turned to look at them both, a little surprised at them.

“You know, a shower room. A place to wash off when you don’t want to soak in a bath or when you don’t have a large body of water available.”

Both of them thought about it for a moment before Serena offered her input.

“You mean like what we did in the labyrinth?”

“Noooooooooot exactly… that was just dumping a whole bunch of water over your head to get dirt off. Here, it would just be easier to just show you what I mean rather then try to explain it.”

Doing as he promised, Andrew made his way into the bathroom area and made his way to the shower. Taking a moment to examine it himself, Andrew had to admit that he was impressed with what he saw. There was an intricate shower head, a dial to adjust temperature, and a spigot to turn it on and off. With his examination and admiration of the shower over, Andrew set about using it as an example for the other two of his party.

“Watch, this little dial here adjusts the temperature of the water as it comes out… while this big one here turns the water on itself… see?”

Turning the spigot down, Andrew was happy to see a cascade of water come out of the shower head before he put his hand under the running water, the temperature just a little too hot for his liking. However, upon adjusting it, he heard the two people behind him let out some impressed/surprised sounds from there mouths.

“Ohhhhh… humans come up with some interesting things. That looks like it might be pleasant to have sex in.”

“Do you seriously have to think with your lower half in this situation you horny demon.”

Labareda could only smile smugly while shrugging her shoulders at Serena. However, the twintail looked back at the shower, still impressed with the continuous stream coming out. However, her attention was directed to the two things on the shelf in the shower itself.

“What are those by the way?”

Andrew looked to see what she was talking about and nodded when he realized what they where.

“It looks like one is a bar of soap while the other I take is a bottle of perfume for after the bath, or something for washing hair. I’ll check and see when I take my own shower… which I will be taking right now since the water is at the right temperature.”

With that said, Andrew was quick to begin removing his clothing, leaving Serena with a blush and surprised expression on her face while Labareda only looked on in some enjoyment.

“Mind if I join you Master? It looks like it might accommodate more then one person, and it saves times if we do it together. Plus, I’m curious to see how one might use this device.”

Andrew (who was already down to a sand-tee and boxers) looked at her with a shrug of his shoulders.

“I don’t see a problem. I’ll even help you wash your hair for you since it’s so long.”

Grinning widely at the prospect, Labareda quickly removed her makeshift clothing and began hopping up and down next to Andrew as he started to remove the last of his own clothing. However, Serena was still left somewhat flabbergasted at the state of things, but she didn’t seem to be leaving the room. She was a little surprised at this, especially since she felt she should have vacated when Andrew had started undressing, but Labareda’s words caused her to lose focus on it.

“Oh? I take it you wish to join us since you have yet to leave. I would recommend removing the armor though, I doubt it would be very comfortable to bath in such a heavy thing.” 

Serena was going to say that she wasn’t going to and was about to leave, but mentally, something stopped her from doing just that. Instead, the next set of words coming out of her mouth confusing even her.

“I know that, geez… getting in and out of this is sorta annoying you know, so trying to put it back on takes just as long as taking it off.”

Andrew, noticing that, spoke up.

“Then do you want me to help undress you from your armor? I can do that much at least.”

Before Serena could say yes or no, Labareda piped in with a comment of her own.

“I think that would help greatly master. I think we could fit all three of us in here managing we squeeze a little bit with each other… the spray from the shower seems large enough to wash everyone after all.”

With a nod of his head and all other words spoken at the moment, Andrew walked up next to Serena and began to help her take off all of her clothing, the girl several levels of confused of why she even mentally agreed to this and why she was letting him do this in the first place. It didn’t help that she would steal glances at him when he was half nude, the only thing hiding his lower half being his pair of boxers he had on. Before she knew it, the only thing that stopped Serena from exposing herself in all her nude glory was the large undershirt she wore. It went down to the middle of her thighs, but even then, she could feel the cool air on her nether’s, her face flushed rather red. Andrew, who had helped her up to this point, couldn’t help but look at her somewhat hesitantly upon seeing her expression.

“You know Serena… if you don’t want to, you don’t have to shower with us.”

Labareda spoke up at that point, somewhat getting in Andrews way when she walked up to Serena.

“Don’t be silly master. Serena said she would, so she shall. If nothing else she is a woman of her word after all.”

Without any way to retort so quickly, Serena wasn’t quick enough to stop Lab from leaping above her head, and in an amazing feat of strength, dexterity, and force of will, remove the last article of clothing that kept her from nudity. Serena felt her face go from red, to apple red when she realized what had just happened, but even more so when she saw Andrew staring at her with a flush of his own coming onto his face. Again, she found herself assailed by thoughts she never knew she could think of, but at the same time, they felt more subdued. She felt more in control of herself in comparison to last night when she was bared to him. However, she didn’t seem to be annoyed at the idea of looking at him, and this in of itself was still odd. Before she could say or do anything though, Labareda piped up and began pushing the red head into the shower.

“Enough gawking at each other, let’s get to this shower thing!”

Andrew, for his part, could only watch on for a moment as Lab and Serena got into the shower. He then chuckled to himself as he made his way into it as well. The moment everyone was under the effects of the running water, it was like a wonderful concept was suddenly understood for two of the three members. Andrew was just happy to have nice hot water pouring over his skin to help rinse away the month of salty sweat, stink, and fatigue in one fell swoop. Labareda and Serena where simply appreciating the feeling of this new sensation, though they got curious when they saw Andrew reach over and grab the soap on the small shelf. 

Him speaking up caused the both of them to look over at him.

“Alright, since the both of you have never showered before, I’m going to show you how it’s done… though it’s really very simple. You take the soap bar and run it across your skin to lather and wash away any dirt and grime from your skin. It’s quite simple, but make sure you get the particularly sweaty parts of your body that can accumulate and cause a rash if left alone. Places like your inner thighs, under your arms, and around the crotch region.”

Labareda and Serena watched on as Andrew pointed to said areas, though it was getting hard for them to see seeing as their hair was getting wet and matted against their faces, causing the both of them to move it out of the way. However, as they watched him wash up, Lab couldn’t help but let a grin cross her face.

“I see I see… if it isn’t to much trouble though Master, would you be willing to do it for me for the first time so that I have an idea of how best to go about it? I think Serena would also appreciate it as well.”

“I what now?”

That was the first thing out of the fiery red heads mouth when Lab was done talking. Andrew only let out a small sigh, Labareda’s endgame so easy to see that he pretty much knew it was gonna happen. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to do it though.

“Fine fine… I’m sure you’ll pester me to no end if I don’t… though don’t take what she says seriously Serena. You know how she is.”

Blushing at him before she started to feel a little self conscious about her current nude form, Serena went typical tsundere in that moment as she tried to cover herself without looking like she was doing so.

“I know that! And I wasn’t that worried about it… geez.”

Lab could only chuckle it herself while Andrew let out another small sigh, though it was mostly for the sake of doing so at this point. Turning his attention back to his familiar, Labareda lifted her arms up high as if to invite him to do what he needed to do… with maybe the hint of wanting a little something extra if the slightly lewd grin on her face wasn’t enough of an indicator. Holding the bar of Lye soap in his hands, Andrew tossed it back and forth between them before he bent down next to her and began to lather up his hands. Quickly getting that taken care of, Andrew started out around her waist and began to delicately rub his hands across the smooth skin of her body, working his fingers into the work as he delicately washed his first familiar. Labareda couldn’t help but giggle a little bit as he continued along the more open and less sexual places of her body.

“He he… that tickles.”

Grinning more to himself at her behavior, Andrew found himself thinking about how Labareda could be so mature at times, but be so childish in others. He found it charming to be sure, but he let it linger for only a moment longer before he got back to the task at hand. This time with less then innocent areas to wash as his goal. Letting his hands roam around her chest, Andrew felt Labareda squirm lightly as he carefully massaged her small bust size with his fingers. Feeling himself start to get horny, Andrew began to do more then just wash her chest area, his fingers starting to get dexterous with her small nipples as he would pinch and rub them delicately. The flush on her face along with the expectant grin only spurred him to go further with his hands. Grinning to himself, Andrew moved one of his hands further down and to her pubic mound, his hand delicately starting to wash away any dirt that may have accumulated there, though he couldn’t help but use his palm to reach further down and gently rub her sex. Her small pants in growing arousal caused her to begin to squirm, the familiar rubbing her thighs together as Andrews hand gently washed her most delicate parts, eventually having to put her hands on his shoulders as she began to go weak in the knees.

Andrew found himself having to restrain himself, the thought of picking her up and impaling her little pussy on his raging hard cock sounding so very tempting right now. However, he didn’t want to escalate it right then and there, especially not with Serena watching. He hadn’t been paying attention to her, but he was still aware that she was in the room with the both of them. Letting out a dejected sigh, Andrew stopped pleasuring her with his hands and got back to washing her body normally. Labareda could only wonder why he had stopped, but she didn’t question it, though the annoyed look on her face when he started to wash her fluffy arms indicated her slight frustration with him. 

However, for Labareda, it was somewhat worth it, especially since she knew Andrew couldn’t see Serena who had been standing behind him. Even though he had been touching her, she had been paying attention to the other red head and had been delighted to see that the girl had been captivated with his pleasuring, her hands having found their way to right breast and her crotch. Labareda had been eager to be gotten off by her master while watching the girl behind him get herself off to the lewd spectacle. Sadly her master had come to a stop for some reason, but the look of realization on Serenas face followed by how she quickly tried to wash the slickness from her hand only caused the demon to smile in anticipation.

‘Yes… just a little more now… she’s getting there…’

At that thought, she couldn’t help but chuckle to herself before the feeling of Andrew putting his hands on her cheeks caused her to focus on him again. 

“What are you giggling about exactly. Also, close your eyes so the soap doesn’t get in them.”

Doing as was asked, Lab closed her eyes and answered his question, the feeling of her master’s hands on her face making it a little difficult to communicate. 

“*pah* nothing m- *mmmghh* Much master.”

Grinning at the cute noises she was making, Andrew only shook his head.

“If you say so. Anyway, stand under the water and it should wash all the soap away. After that, you’ll be done… then I can finally get started on washing myself… and hopefully you managed to learn how to do it yourself?”

Lab only nodded at him in answer, the demon already having understood the concept behind it well before he had even touched her. However, the sound of someone behind him clearing their throat caused him to look behind him and see Serena standing there with a blush on her cheek, her hands interlinked demurely in front of her.

“W-Well I didn’t catch any of that seeing as you where to busy washing her… s-s-s-so you need to show me… how you did it… by… doing it… with… me…”

The further along she got with her sentence, the quieter she got until Andrew hardly even heard what she had said at the end. But heard it he had, and mentally he was confused and happy at the same time. However, his mouth voiced the somewhat confused part of his emotions.

“Show you… I wouldn’t mind but… would you be comfortable with that.”

Before she could answer him, Labareda appeared behind Serena and pushed her into Andrew.

“Don’t worry about it Master! She said she wants you to show her, so don’t be questioning it!”

Andrew felt Serena push up against him as she fell into him, the feeling of her bare flesh against his naked skin sending a rushing feeling of excitement through him as bad as when he had sex with Unoma or Labareda. Serena felt her mind cry out in joy at the contact, her body aching terribly with his touch. She wanted him to feel her, to embrace her, to feel him inside her emotionally and physically. However, Andrew pulled away from her a second later with a nervous grin on his face. 

“Sorry about that, but I guess if you want me to show you by washing you myself, I guess I may as well oblige you. By the by, we’ll worry about your hair when we get done with your body.”

With a nervous nod of her head, Serena only looked back from his hands to Labareda, the girl trying to mentally figure out why she was doing this in the first place and why she felt like it was what she wanted and needed. However, she stopped thinking that when she felt Andrews hands touch her waist and begin to move up and down to wash her. To him, it was just a nervous washing as he felt that his hands were clumsily moving across her soft skin. To Serena, it was like her body was being caressed by the hands of a lover. Gentle, but filled with the tenderness of one who would love her dearly. It filled her with a joy and ecstasy like no other, her mind filled with nothing but of love and copulation. She said nothing, but her breathing started to become heavy and her body was filled with heat and arousal. Andrew, who couldn’t help but notice all of this, wasn’t sure how best to proceed from here. However, Serena filled that thought gap when she grabbed his hands and moved them further up her body, away from the less sexual sections and directly on her breasts. 

“D-do this part next…”

Andrew felt his body and his dick stand at attention at this sudden development, but when he was about to ask her what she was doing, he only had to look at her to stop.

Here eyes where hungry, her face flush from more then just the hot water running over her, and her mouth was turned up into a lewd grin. Feeling any hesitation be blown away at this, Andrew began to cup her sizable breasts in his hand, squeezing and fondling them at this point, any thoughts of ‘washing’ now replaced with trying to feel her body. For him, it was like a dream come true to be able to do this with a girl he had come to enjoy so much from a game, and it only showed through when he began to pinch and play with her nipples. 

“Ahh!”

With Serena letting out that small moan, Andrew felt himself want to go further and pulled himself closer to her and removing his hands from her chest. She was confused for a moment past her lust induced haze, but it didn’t last very long when he brought himself close to her face and began to kiss her passionately. She didn’t have time to react to it, and somewhere deep in her mind she was confused, but the rest of her was ecstatic by this sudden development. Even more so when he used one arm to hold her close and the other went down to her pussy and began to stroke it gently and quickly. At this point, Labareda was only looking on with excitement and some wonder.

‘Well, well, well…I did not expect master to initiate it at all… I had somewhat considered him passive, but I guess there is something about Serena that he has come to enjoy greatly that he just wants to dive right into her… truly fantastic… but I feel that poor Serena has no idea what to do here, so caught up in her pleasure as to simply take it like that… perhaps she is of the passive type? No matter, Master needs a little relief himself…’

Grinning more to herself then to anybody in particular, Labareda walked up behind her master and embraced him gently. Surprised by the sudden touch but not about to relent on his kiss with Serena, Andrew could only guess that it was Labareda who had done it, though he had found it odd that she did so in this situation. However, it didn’t seem so odd when he felt her reach around and began to use one of her wet paws to stroke his hard dick while the other found its way to his chest, where she then began to gently rub her velvety paw on his chest. He found it a little odd, but at the same time, it felt wonderful to him. 

“Oh master… allow me the opportunity to bring you comfort in this moment… poor Serena, virgin that she is, doesn’t seem to have the full function of her mental capabilities right this moment. Just keep pleasuring her like you are and I will bring you the same…”

Not going to question it, Andrew only let her continue, his body working between the job of pleasuring the girl in his arms, and giving in to the masterful use of his familiars pleasing paws. Serena could only drown her mind in the sweet sensation on her body, her lips full of Andrews taste while her breasts and pussy where being played with by the man she was holding. It felt so right and so wonderful to be held and touched like this, her body screaming to continue while also begging for even more. This was different from the time she and Unoma had been with each other. That had felt like playing, this felt to her like what true love was to her. For the next few minutes, she could only feel herself give into all of this, though her body jolted in shock when she felt an intruding finger work itself into her sopping wet sex. The feeling of penetration from Andrew giving her an indescribable amount of pleasure that seemed to jolt up and through her body. It was almost as if she was drunk from her lust, her eyes having lost focus and her body giving in to Andrews touches and pleasuring. Andrew, for his part, had to struggle to not give into the pleasure himself, the act of fingering Serena amazing all its own, but when combined with the fondling and stroking motions of Labareda’s paws, it was hard to not blow his load then and there. With all this heat and pleasure, it didn’t take long before someone finally hit the peak of all this lust. 

That person being Serene.

She felt it below her stomach, that familiar racing feeling as her body was overloaded with the feeling of an oncoming orgasm. Just as a dam releases upon holding back too much, so did her loins as her body overflowed with that sexual tension. Andrew felt Serena tense up in his arms while her pussy clamped down on his finger like a vice, the feeling of her inner walls quivering around his index finger telling him that he had managed to give her an orgasm. Even then though, Labareda did not stop her handjob, actually increasing the pace when she saw Serena tense up. For a few seconds, Serena only felt wave upon wave of her bodies pleasure seemingly charge her with a white mist in her mind, but eventually it came to an end. Having spent herself, Serena broke away from the kiss and slowly crumpled to the shower floor and away from Andrew, her mouth hanging open to catch her breath while her face was stuck on a lax expression. Andrew had gently brought her to the floor, but a moment later and Labaredas caress and handling caused Andrew to release his own load. 

Unintentionally he came all over Serena’s face, the demonic familiar seemingly doing this on purpose as each wave of pleasure fired another thick ropy strand of seed onto Serena’s dazed person. After about the fourth or fifth shot, Andrew was also spent and had to take a seat next to the dazed and cum covered girl. Labareda, for her part, was a little frustrated at her lack of sexual satisfaction, but it was worth it to see this spectacle in front of her. 

“Well Master, I think we all know how to wash ourselves at this point. I appreciate the lesson… and I’m sure our little Serena does as well.”

Looking up at his familiar with a somewhat annoyed expression, Andrew only let out a low sigh.

“I don’t think that was so much a lesson so much as something else entirely…”

Bringing his attention back to Serena herself, he could see that she was still dazed with his cum still on her face, the girl having moved out of the way of the running water. Nervously scratching his cheek, Andrew let out a small noise.

“As hot as she looks… I better wash that off before it dries.”

With Labareda’s help, they both helped her get washed up (though the familiar seemed to enjoy molesting her a bit.) before Andrew finally got around to washing himself. When it came to washing the girl’s hair, it was something of a challenge in of itself, but thankfully the small bottle was a kind of hair soap that worked wonders. After having finally gotten done with washing (something that ended up taking a lot longer then Andrew would have guessed) Andrew tried to find some towels to dry themselves off with, though Labareda said it wouldn’t be necessary and instead used a spell that dried everyone off instantly. After complimenting her with a head pat and a word of praise, Andrew could only look at the clothing they had worn earlier with a slight grimace.

“I’m kinda not tempted to put dirty clothes back on… especially now that I feel so clean.”

Labareda came to the rescue on that one when she opened the door into the main room.

“Not to worry master, I asked the captain if they had any spare clothing for us and they brought us something while you where still getting to the ship. Unoma was fast asleep when they brought it, so that’s why she hasn’t changed yet.”

“I see…”

Was all he said. Since the issue with the clothing had been somewhat solved, Andrew brought his attention to Serena, the girl not bringing herself to look him in the eye as she diverted her gaze away from him with a heavy blush. She had been that way since she had recovered her senses, as if she had realized what all had transpired. Andrew hadn’t said anything, trying to act normal with her, but she would blush at him and turn meek when he did. He had opted to stop after the third time he did this, simply realizing that she probably needed some time to process it. And if he was being truthful, so did he. Walking into the room as naked as the day he was born, Andrew couldn’t help but see that Unoma and Aruma had cuddled closer together, the young winged girls head resting on the Dark Mages bosom while Unoma herself had gently wrapped her arms around her. He found he couldn’t stop smiling at the both of them, but the sound of some rustling off to the side showed Labareda going through some clothing before she turned to him holding some of it in her arms.

“It’s not much, and the captain did tell me that they didn’t have a large selection to begin with, but I think this will work well enough for the time being Master.”

Looking at what she had in hand, Andrew had to admit that it looked very plain. Simple pull up pants, a pull over shirt and what looked to be some kind of jerkin to go over that. Taking it from her, Andrew very quickly got into it, though the fact he didn’t have any underwear on left him feeling somewhat exposed. Looking at the pile, he saw that there didn’t seem to be any kind of boxers or small clothes for him to put on. Noticing his discomfort, Labareda cocked her head to the side in some confusion. 

“Is something the matter?”

“You wouldn’t happen to know a spell that cleans clothing, would you? I feel like walking around like this without any kind of small clothes on underneath is something I couldn’t take on a social level.”

Thinking about it for a moment, Labareda nodded her head.

“I think I do, but maybe you should just leave it as is for the time being. I can clean the clothing later, all that stuff you where wearing was far too much for this kind of weather.”

Andrew felt like he wanted to argue, but he decided not to. It wasn’t like it was hurting anything anyway.

“Fine fine…”

“Well what about me?”

Turning around, Andrew saw Serena standing behind him, her hands behind her back as she looked at Labareda curiously. Andrews gaze was drawn to her full-on nudity, and he quickly felt himself getting hard. Before he could reach maximum peak though, he looked away from her and to Labareda. Who… Frankly wasn’t helping very much considering she was also nude and was bent down in an attempt to find something for the warrior with Labs pussy and ass in full view. Deciding to just look away from either one of them altogether, Andrew put his attention on the bed that was occupied. It was large, and he was sure that if all five of them got on it, they would still have enough room to be comfortable. Other then that, the only other thing he found of note was the couch in the middle of the room. Those only held his attention for a little bit longer before he found himself looking back at the two dressing girls. Correction, one dressing girl and one girl who was already dressed. Serena was still in the process of putting something on, the girl seemingly unaware of Andrews gaze at her nudity, but Andrew turned his attention to Labareda a moment later, the familiar already dressed up. Though if he was being honest to himself, it actually made her look sexier then when she was nude. Wearing what looked to be a pair of panties with a heart shaped goat skull motif sown into the crotch area was on her lower half, while the only thing that covered her upper chest modesty was a short sleeved open vest of sorts. It didn’t even go beyond the lower part of her breasts, a gentle breeze would easily reveal her bright pink nipples if the wind was to blow just right. However, there was no fear of wind in the ship, so it was a moot point. Catching him staring at her, Labareda struck a sexy pose with her hands behind her head and her leg lifted seductively.

“What do you think master? I know I’ve told you that I don’t mind the lack of clothing, but I thought something like this would please both of us in our own unique ways. The bottom part of the pants even has a magical slit that can opened up if need be.”

As if to show it off, Labareda lifted one of her legs up into the air, directing his attention to Aforementioned section. Andrew could see the stitching that would be where her fleshy slit was, but he had a feeling that he would need to try to see it from a magical standpoint. Letting a low sigh come out of his mouth, Andrew only smiled at her.

“I’ll keep it in mind…”

He didn’t expect a yawn to escape his mouth after he had said that, his familiar looking at him curiously before she walked up to him and out a paw on his arm.

“You seem tired Master. You should get some rest. I’ll wake you if anything needs your attention.”

Trying to stifle said yawn, Andrew only nodded his head at her.

“Very well… you guys are free to join us if you want… but do be respectful of the captain and the crew for the next few days okay?”

“Of course Master.”

Was all she said before Andrew took one last look at Serena, who was in her own world as she seemed to sort through the clothing, before he made his way to the bed. Seeing that Arumas back looked cold with nothing against it, Andrew scooted on over behind her and gently pressed himself against the small girl while putting one hand around her and the other under his head. The sheets and mattress itself where simply divine in comparison to the hard rock and ground he had been sleeping on for the last month so it didn’t take him very long to pass out. His light snores a few minutes later causing Labareda to smile fondly at the sleeping group. That changed when she heard Serena hum to herself in contemplation. 

“Tell me Lab, do you think I would look better in one of these dresses, or should I try to stick to something a little more functional. “

“I prefer nothing at all, but if you really need me to pick, then something like an easily accessible dress would be best. Not that your old clothing wasn’t useful, but I think someone like you should have better clothes for when the mood hits you. Like when you were in the shower a few minutes ago.”

Serena felt that blush that had run from her face come right back at the memory of not only her actions, but of Andrews touch on her… and in her. 

“Nghhhh… don’t remind me of that right now…”

Labareda ended up chuckling to herself at that.

“Oh come now, no reason to be embarrassed about it. Everyone and everything have desires, especially for humans who seem to be in rut all year round.”

“But I’m not in heat all year round! I don’t do that! Or at least most of what memories I have indicate as such.”

Labareda looked at her with a small smile on her face.

“Well, maybe not before, but I’ve seen enough of humans that when they find a person they really love they tend to want to have sex with them all the time.”

At the mention of the word ‘love’, Serena couldn’t help but go as red as her hair, the stutter in her voice unmistakable.

“L-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-love?! What love?! What are you talking about?!”

Labareda found herself laughing to herself before she walked up next to Serena, looking around at clothing while still answering her question.

“Yes you simple and adorable human. Love.”

“I-”

Before she could even get the next word out, Labareda ended up cutting her off.

“Oh please don’t start with the ‘I don’t love him’ spiel. I’ve seen plenty of beings say the same thing, but end up eating those words some time later. Trust me, what you are feeling is some form of attraction. And I won’t hear a word of it otherwise… also, what do you think of these things? I think they would bring out the best in your feminine appeal.”

Not even paying that much attention to what the demonic Familiar was saying, Serena felt her mind reeling at the thought, the twin-tail being blown away by this idea to even really come up with any kind of counter argument. But at the same time, would she think or feel this way if that wasn’t the case? Is this what being in love was like? She wasn’t sure, she didn’t recall having any memories of this feeling, nor of falling in love with anyone in particular. It was a revelation to be sure… but at the same time, she felt that maybe it might have a ring of truth to it… she might have to discuss this with Sarya later though. For the time being though, she would need to pick something to wear since Labareda was being lazy about washing cloths… though she wouldn’t be caught wearing that string floss bikini that Labareda had laid out…not in public anyway.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Andrew found himself waking from what he considered to be a restful slumber due to the unfamiliar sounds of creaking and groaning wood. At first, he wasn’t sure if his house was creaking that badly or if it was settling. But then it hit him that he wasn’t home at all and that he had been brought into a strange new world almost a month ago. It then quickly dawned on him that the sounds he was hearing were those of the ship he now resided on, the Blissful Tide as it had been called. Forcing himself to open his eyes with a mental groan, Andrew felt the heat of a body on his front… as well as on his back. It didn’t take him very long to see that Aruma was where she had been when he had fallen asleep, though Unoma had cuddled up with the girl in his embrace. Though it was the feeling on his back that slightly confused him. Turning his head to look behind him, he saw that Labareda had her whole body wrapped around him in a loving embrace. Though surprisingly, it was the person behind her that caused him to cock his eyebrow in some wonder. Serena was cuddled next to her, the woman fast asleep in what looked to be some kind of night outfit. He couldn’t see it since she was under a blanket, but Andrew still found it adorable… until he thought about what had happened in the bathroom earlier. Then a blush appeared on his face, but he quickly pushed it from his mind.

Deciding that since he was awake, Andrew carefully maneuvered himself out of the grasp of the small girls on both sides of himself, having been used to doing it when he had been dealing with his younger nieces and nephews. After getting himself out of the bed without disturbing anybody, Andrew found his boots and put on what looked to be socks from the pile of clothing on the floor. They fit comfortably enough for him, so it wasn’t too much when he put his military boots back on and exited the room. It didn’t take him long to make it to the steps and ascend them to the kitchen area. However, when he got into the kitchen, he was surprised to see that there were two people in it, the both of them monitoring cooking pots and roasting foods of various kinds. One of them he quickly recognized as Silque, the mermaid. However, she had seemingly lost her fish tail and now sported a scaly pair of webbed fish legs, if that even made sense. He would have to ask her about it when he got her attention, but his own attention was on the other unfamiliar face.

It was a woman who looked in her early twenties with what looked to be long wavy back length golden blonde hair. Her eyes where a very deep blue in color, though her features and expression where focused at the moment. Though Andrew had to admit she looked like what one would consider a cool beauty. She had a tone looking body, her upper body uncovered save for the very cute seal hood on her head that very conveniently covered her modest breasts. The reasoning behind the toned thought was that despite still retaining some feminism in her upper body, she had some muscle to her, not thick or anything, but enough there to be noticed. Outside of the hood on her head, the woman wore an unusual skirt of sorts. If he was to put it into words, it looked like some kind of seal costume split down the middle for her to use around her legs.

It was odd to say the least.

If Andrew was to hazard a guess, this woman was one of the other crew members, and if he recalled correctly, she was a selkie called Fenella. Or at least he hoped she was, she looked nothing like any kind of kraken or Mershark to him, so it was a logical guess. He didn’t have the time to think about it anymore when Silque saw him and called him out with a smile and a big wave of her hands.

“Hey! You’re awake! Nice to see you up and about!”

Seeing that he had the floor, Andrew waved back at her with a smile.

“So am I, it’s nicer to sleep on a real bed rather then a stone floor. I hope I wasn’t out for very long.”

Silque ran up to him and put her hands behind her back cutely as she looked up at him, Andrew just now realizing that she was about as tall as Aruma.

“Not all that long! Maybe an hour or less. Me and Fenella where just getting started on cooking the food, she got a huge batch of sea kelp leaves and fish for dinner later.”

The sound of the other woman’s voice caused Andrew to turn to look at her.

“It wasn’t really that big of a catch. I was only out for safety reasons this time around else I would have brought back much more to eat. We do have a large number of passengers this time around after all.”

Andrew only nodded before he smiled at the blonde woman.

“I see… I’ll try to tone down my appetite for dinner then. But where are my manners, I’m-”

“Andrew, right? The captain already told us about you and your status for this trip.”

Silque nodded her head eagerly before she ignored any and all social barriers and embraced Andrew warmly, the blue haired mermaid looking up at him with some expectation.

“Yeah! The captain said I need to treat you and the rest of your group real nice! Which is kinda weird since I treat everyone real nice! I don’t mind though, it just means we get to have more fun than usual for most of this voyage!”

Despite the playful tone she had said that in, the fact that she was rubbing her body against him lewdly indicated to him that she had several sexual ideas in mind in regards to fun. Though before he could affirm or deny her thoughts on the matter, the Selkie woman gave the mermaid an annoyed look followed by a tapping of a ladle on her pan.

“Not in the kitchen. The last time you got down and dirty in here you spilled half my spice rack. I’ll not have you waste precious ingredients like that again.”

Silque only turned her head around and gave the woman a pouty look.

“Come ooooooooon Fenella. We haven’t had a real dick in so looooong! It’s killing me just thinking about it! We can finally do a three-layer-cake!”

However, Fenella only continued to stare.

“I don’t care. It’s not happening in my kitchen. And unlike the rest of you, I have a little self-control.”

Silque, who had detached herself from Andrew, only smugly looked at the woman.

“So you say, but you looked the most eager when the captain said we had free reign to have sex with a group of the passengers, especially when Andrew was mentioned.”

Fenella, now somewhat red in the face, crossed her arms over her chest defensively before she huffed.

“I-I did no such thing! Don’t go putting weird thoughts in his head!”

Andrew, who had been amused by this back and forth, brought It to an end when he spoke up.

“It’s alright, I wasn’t going to do anything to anyone right now anyway. Though if it’s any kind of consolation, Tannath gets first dibs after Dinner. After that… well, I’ll see how I’m doing, then we can have ourselves some fun.”

Silque looked a little annoyed at the fact that she wasn’t going to be the first, but she still looked eager when she had heard that Andrew would be up for more. Even Fenella looked somewhat eager, but she stopped looking like that when she saw Andrew looking at her. Silque threw her hands in the air with eagerness a moment later.

“Great! Me and Fen will get dinner ready as quickly as we can! I’ll make sure to put plenty of stamina boosting foods into it!”

The Selkie looked at the mermaid with an annoyed expression.

“We’ll do what we planned and nothing more. I don’t want to catch you adding anything weird into the food.”

Chuckling a little at that, Andrew opted to go ahead and make his way out of the kitchen to let them work, but as he was about to leave, Fenella caught his attention.

“Ah, Andrew. Your friend Jonathan is already out there. He said that if I was to see you before dinner I should tell you that he wanted to talk with you.”

Looking at her curiously, Andrew nodded at her.

“Alright, I’ll go see him then. Thanks for letting me know.”

With that out of the way, Andrew made his way out the door. When he left, Andrew was quick to take note of who was on the deck already. The first person he spotted was Tannath, the Harpy looking into the sea with her spyglass in hand. She seemed rather focused on her job, so Andrew opted to leave her alone.

The next person he saw was Jonathan who was currently on the bow of the ship.

Though he wasn’t wearing his armor, it was easy enough to see who it was based on the younger man’s blonde hair. However, what was interesting to note was that Jonathan had his sword out and was training. Swinging, feinting, blocking, weaving, everything one would expect from a fight, he was doing to stay in shape. Andrew got close enough to hear the swing of the man’s blade, but not close enough to where he would be a distraction. For a few minutes, this was all he did, intent on watching Jonathan train, though it quickly came to an end. Letting some low gasps escape his mouth from the physical exertion, Jonathan turned around so as to find a drink of water, though he was greeted by Andrew and his smiling face.

“Hey there Jonathan. Nice work out there. Looking for this?”

Andrew held up a cup to him, having already found water for the worn-out young man.

Not opting to say anything at the moment in lieu of trying to get more air into his lungs, Jonathan only took the cup from him and drained it quickly. Giving him a minute or two to rest up, Andrew waited patiently until the young man in front of him had settled down enough to try communication.

“Hello there Andrew. Sorry about that, I would have greeted you had I know you where here.”

Waving the comment aside, Andrew only smiled.

“Thank you, but I’m sure your training is more important than talking with me.”

“Not quite true, but I appreciate the sentiment nonetheless.”

Andrew nodded at him in answer before he opted to get to the heart of the issue.

“So, one of the crew members said that you wanted to talk with me? What about?”

“Ah, yes. Actually, I didn’t want to so much talk as I wanted to have a light sparing match with you.”

Both curious and interested, Andrew unfolded his arms and stood up straighter.

“Really? Didn’t you say that you already had a grasp of what I could do?”

“I did yes, but I think it would be wise to try to get you up to speed. You have no idea how long you’re going to be in this world after all. I believe it would be helpful for you to get started on training as quickly as possible.”

Andrew could only mentally agree with him after all. It did make sense for him to get started on learning how to fight since he wasn’t going to magically get a gun here. Letting a low huff escape his mouth, Andrew uncrossed his arms and rolled his neck a little.

“You got a point… It wouldn’t hurt for me to get on it… but what should I do for a weapon? Unless your fine with me using the axe?”

At that, Jonathan became curious.

“I don’t mind if you do, but an Axe is a limiting weapon. Yes, it can cause massive damage and even the most heavily armored of individuals would think twice about getting in range. But anyone who is fast enough can very easily bypass that killing power…However…”

For a moment, Jonathan said nothing. However, he only looked Andrew up and down, as if recalling something in his mind. It didn’t take him very long to simply sigh and smile at him.

“In your case, that weakness might not exist. Forget I said anything about it. I’m curious though, can you summon it and dismiss it at will?”

Andrew nodded his head before he simply held out his hand to his side, the evil looking weapon appearing right then and there.

“From the looks and feel of it, yeah, I can do that.”

Andrew then walked over to where Jonathan was a small distance away and turned to face him.

“Welp, I’m ready to go if you want… but if you wanna take a breather from your current training then we can do that too.”

Jonathan only laughed a little before he got his blade into a combat ready position.

“I should be fine… I cast a spell on my sword so as to dull the edge, that way it won’t cut, but take any blow you may receive as a lethal one. Just to let you know, if I swing hard enough I can still break bones, so do try to be careful… and try to dodge as well. Also… I hope you don’t mind, but I also took the liberty of casting the same spell over your own weapon when you brought it out… I know it’s not proper etiquette to tamper with another’s weapon… but I figured you didn’t know how to do it yourself.”

“He he… well… you got that right… thanks though… and try not to rough me up too much eh?”

Laughing sheepishly, Andrew only nodded his head at him before he took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself for combat. Jonathan, seeing the man across from him ready to go, leveled his blade at Andrew. With the sound of the waves against the bulk of the ship being the only thing they could hear, the two of them mentally were on edge.

For a moment, the two of them did nothing, though for Andrew, it was more out of a sense of not trusting himself with the first move. Andrew knew that the first move in a fight could make or break it, and he never considered himself a proactive fighter. So, he opted to take a reactive approach. His idea was met with what he had anticipated. A more experienced fighter against a greenhorn would be more willing to turn themselves into the predator.

Jonathan, seeing that Andrew wasn’t going to move, dashed right for him. Andrew found himself simply watching him, but his mind was screaming at his body to react or else he was going to get hurt. Sadly, he wasn’t in tune with himself, and by the time he started moving, Jonathan was already in range. Andrews slow witted reaction was met with a sharp crack to his left arm, almost letting go of his weapon with the force of the impact. However, Andrew saw that Jonathan was close, and he savagely swung his axe to the side. Jonathan only looked surprised for a moment at the sheer speed of which that axe was moving, but his experience quickly came through. Ducking under the rather clumsy swing, Jonathan rose up quickly and jabbed his palm into an uppercut on Andrews chin. Not having been expecting the blow, Andrew could only reel back from the pain of his assaulted jaw and took a step back to get away from Jonathan, his left hand leaving his weapon on reflex to grip his throbbing chin. This proved to be a terrible move, as Jonathan now had the full torso section to strike at.

The blonde youth did not waste this opportunity and struck out with the deadened blade, Andrew taking a serious blow to his diaphragm. Andrew lurched forward, his ability to breath now severely hampered, and he even made the mistake of letting go of his weapon. Jonathan stopped when he saw Andrew let go of his weapon and gave him time to try to recover his breath, though to say he was a little disappointed in this outcome would have been an understatement.

Andrew felt the shame settle in deeply at that even as he continued to cough. Though he wasn’t a fighter, he at least thought he would have lasted a little bit longer then that pitiful amount of time. Forcing himself to get his body back under control, Andrew pushed himself to stand up straight again rather then continue to look as pathetic as he did right now. He then found his weapon and summoned it to his hand. Feeling a sense of disappointment in himself, Andrew looked back at Jonathan with an apologetic look on his face.

“Sorry about that… I’m really not that good…”

“No, it’s fine Ser Andrew. I don’t really expect you to be any kind of master, and I know you probably have never had to fight before. I will admit that your base ability in speed, strength, and endurance are top notch though. You can take powerful blows as well as any physical based monster. You just need to get used to fighting is all.”

Andrew looked at him for a moment before he nodded in agreement.

“Yeah… your right… I need to get used to this… if you don’t mind my suggestion though, if you see me stop attacking or drop my weapon again… don’t stop. Just keep wailing on me.”

Jonathan, a little surprised by this, only stared in confusion.

“I don’t feel that would be very considerate of me.”

“I’m not looking for consideration Jonathan. Pain will teach me to stop doing stupid shit, and nothing in this world is going to stop trying to kill me if I just so happen to get hurt.”

The blonde youth looked rather uncomfortable with the idea, but he mentally agreed with what Andrew was saying and only let out a low sigh.

“Very well… I will stop if you do get severely injured though.”

Andrew nodded at him.

“That’s fine with me… so, let’s get back to it.”

With that agreement come to, both men looked to each other with their weapons in hand and got ready for another bout. This time, Andrew was determined to at least hold onto his weapon even when Jonathan was intending on beating his ass into the ground. With no stand-off this time, Jonathan jumped right into it with the same maneuver. A straight dash into Andrew. Somewhat expecting it, Andrew didn’t swing horizontally this time, instead opting to swing downward directly into Jonathan path. This time he had to stop and divert himself away from the blow. However, Jonathan quickly recovered and simply bypassed the axe by going around, but this time, Andrew was a little more prepared. When he came rushing forward, Andrew pulled one of his hands away from his weapon and threw a straight punch at where Jonathan was coming from.

Actually being surprised by this, Jonathan stopped just as he was about to take the first to his face. This gave Andrew just enough time to get his axe back into both hands and smack Jonathan with the flat of the blade as he swung at him like a baseball bat. He didn’t have a lot of power in it considering a large windup would have left him open, but it was enough to stagger him. Seeing his opportunity, Andrew was able to gain some distance with his foe and was able to quickly reposition himself. Jonathan, who had only lightly stumbled, looked at Andrew with some genuine surprise. Though he personally would have followed up with an attack, the youth had to admit that it wasn’t a bad move.

Sadly, that was where Andrews preparation and thinking came to an end. The next few minutes where a through and savage beating from Jonathan, Andrew doing everything he could to just try to make himself keep going in this sparing match. However, if there was one thing he could pride himself on in this whole ordeal, then it was the fact that he hadn’t let go of his weapon. Eventually though the training came to an end and Andrew felt like he had been put himself through a rigorous boxing match. However, Jonathan looked rather wore out as well, the man out of breath from the sheer amount of time he had spent just wailing on Andrew. Seeing that Jonathan had stopped, Andrew felt himself go limp and fell to one knee, his body one massive bruise after all of that.

“Jesus Jonathan… You sure can keep going… Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck I’m going to be feeling all of that in a little while…”

However, Jonathan could only breath heavily as he responded to him.

“I’m *huff* more amazed *Huff Huff* at the fact you could… *wheeze* keep standing… through all of… that… Gods!” Jonathan also fell to the ground, his sword by his side as he did his best to catch his breath.

“What did I tell you Tan? They both lasted out the time limit, and from the looks of it, I win our little bet.”

At the sound of an unfamiliar voice, both men turned to look and see who had been talking. It was easy to see that they had gathered a crowd of sorts, though three really didn’t make a crowd as far as Andrew was concerned. Two of the faces where familiar, one of them being Tannath and the other being Sarya but it was the last face that was unfamiliar to him.

She, as it was obvious from the large exposed bust that she was currently displaying in full view, was an unnatural looking woman (Just like Tannath, she also wore some kind of tribal skirt. He wasn’t sure if that was a custom of the crew members of this ship). Her skin color was off for starters, a mixture of a pale blue color along with an off white. Though what was even more odd was the rather inhuman features she sported. She had what looked to be a dorsal fin on her back, though she had several sets of pectoral fins along her arms, her hips, and her calf’s. Even more odd was that her smile showed off rows of very sharp serrated teeth in her very human looking face, her wild bluish gray hair reaching about to her shoulders. Andrew had no doubt that this woman was the Mershark that was mentioned, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember her name. However, he noticed that she was looking directly at him, her bright yellow eyes taking on an interested glint before she smiled her sharp smile and waved at him.

“Hey there Handsome! Good job out there! Me and Tannath had ourselves a little bet to see who would end up dropping out first from that little bout of yours! Happy to say I bet that you wouldn’t be the first to drop!”

Tannath didn’t look all that happy, but Andrew could only smile at her as he managed to work himself to his feet.

“Glad to see someone has faith in my ability to be wholly stubborn. I don’t think I caught your name though Ms…?”

Andrew left it off at a question, but the mershark only put her hands behind her head and smiled at him.

“Frida! You can call me Frida! I’m basically the main fighter of this ship when things start to get hairy, otherwise I’m one of the deck hands who help keep this ship of ours in shape!”

Andrew nodded at her before he turned to Jonathan and helped him up to his feet. Though Frida wasn’t done talking from the sounds of it.

“I have to admit, I don’t think I could have gone on as long as either of you did in that fight! Blondy there fights like a pro, but you on the other hand don’t seem to quite! You could use some work though!”

He hadn’t been looking at her, but he jumped when he felt someone pinch him on his side. Turning around, he saw that Frida was standing next to him, though she was about a foot shorter then he was. She looked up at him with that dangerous smile of hers before she clapped him on the back.

“I will admit that you feel like you got a nice body on you though! I wouldn’t mind seeing you out of those clothes of yours to admire it!”

Andrew, who drew his attention further down her chest to her exposed breasts, couldn’t help but grin lewdly at her exposed breasts and dark gray nipples. It was his first time outside of Alyssa seeing someone with such an unusual anatomy. Feeling himself get a little plucky, Andrew looked at her right in the face and gave her one of his more confidant grins.

“That might be arranged later. I think I’ve practically promised the whole crew at this point that I was going to visit them for some… well, I think you already know at this point.”

Frida blinked a few times before a small blush crossed her face, but the excitement was still there.

“Really now? I’m looking forward to it if that’s true!”

The sound of Sarya chuckling brought his attention to the Elf and he couldn’t help but see the smug grin on her face.

“Well look at you mister Fuck stallion. Sure you’re not actually some kind of incubus?”

Andrew sheepishly waved her comment away before he shook his head.

“Nope, not at all. Just trying out some freedoms that I never would have gotten had I been home.”

Despite the oddity of his statement, nobody bothered asking about it. However, the feeling of his now growing bruises caused Andrew to suck in his breath rapidly. Jonathan couldn’t help but look at him with some guilt.

“I apologize.”

“Don’t be. I asked for it after all… and I’m sure one of my own party members can do something about it. But I will admit Jonathan, you know how to handle yourself in a fight. I guess they don’t make hero’s from just any old run of the mill guy eh?”

The younger man could only laugh sheepishly at that.

“I guess so.”

“I am curious about it though… how does one get selected to be a hero?”

For a moment, Jonathan didn’t say anything, but he opted to speak up when he noticed that Sarya was going to say something.

“It’s simple actually… one has to pass a test of sorts. Once they get done with that, they will be anointed by the power of the Chief god. After that, your pretty much a hero, upon which you join the hero’s association.”

Andrew nodded his head at that before he started to stroke his chin in thought.

“I remember you saying something about that. It makes me curious though, if there is an association of you guys, does that mean their’s more of you out there?”

“Yes. At the moment, I believe there is about thirty-one hero’s out there right now with their own groups. I was the twenty fourth hero established in the past few years. After that, I spent a lot of time wandering around trying my best to suppress any issues that needed a hero before I met with Morgana followed by Sarya shortly after. After that we continued to do what we could until eventually we come to our meeting.”

“And you’ve been doing this how long now?”

Sarya spoke up at that.

“About… give or take, three years with us now… but he was working by himself for about two.”

Andrew had to give the man credit on that.

“Huh… so you’re like an expert on this stuff huh?”

Jonathan could only smile and rub his neck sheepishly.

“Well… I guess so. Though there are groups that have been doing this even longer then I have… and some groups are so talented that they have done far more then I have in two then the five I’ve been doing this.”

“Really now? I find that surprising… but I guess that’s just a facet of life.”

Nodding his head, Andrew shifted a little to make himself more comfortable, but the sudden pain in his body reminded him that he had been standing there while covered in freshly forming bruises.

Letting out a sharp hiss of pain, anyone could see that he forgot about it. But the first to suggest anything be done about it was surprisingly Frida.

“Might wanna get healed up before you let that settle in to much. Any one of you a healer?”

Jonathan and Andrew only shook their heads. The mershark then turned to look at the elf, but Sarya only shook her head.

“Sadly, none of our group happens to have a competent healer… Well, Morgana would count as one, but out here in the waves, shes next to useless in terms of casting magic. I could get you a potion if you want.”

Andrew only shook his head at her.

“Nah, I’m good. I don’t want you wasting money on me. I’m sure I’ll heal in time, just need to go back to the room and get a nice hot shower followed by some rest. I’m sure everyone is still nuzzled together in that bed anyway.”

Everyone present found themselves agreeing with him, but Tannath spoke up just as he was about to leave.

“Ah yes, it’s getting to be around dinner time, so be ready to eat in about an hour or so.”

Frida nodded her head at her harpy companion, but she also had something to say.

“Also, if you want those bruises healed up faster, you could try to visit Imh’ege. It’s kinda weird, but she does have some weird technique that heals things like bruises very easily. I should know, I go to see her all the time when I get in a rough fight.”

Andrew nodded his head to her in acknowledgement.

“Alright… I’ll keep it in mind… where would she be if I wanted to do that?”

“In the bilge. That happens to be on the lowest part of the ship. The way down is just behind the stairs when you get to the second floor. Can’t miss it.”

Nodding to her, Andrew turned himself around and began making his way toward the open door. However, behind him, Tannath looked over at Frida with a somewhat blank expression.

“I notice you failed to mention what that happens to entail Frida.”

Sarya and Jonathan couldn’t help but take note of that. However, the sly mershark only smiled at her harpy friend with a toothy grin.

“Not like he won’t enjoy the surprise.”

Tannath only looked at Frida for a moment longer before she watched Andrew vanish behind the door.

“True enough.”

Sarya and Jonathan only looked to each other in some confusion over that conversation, the two deck hands getting back to work. Andrew, for his part, only made his way into the door and found the stairway. Unlike several minutes ago, he had been unbruised, so getting up and down the steps then hadn’t been anything of a challenge. Now though, his body ached just taking the steps to the second floor. With a small grunt at each step, Andrew couldn’t help but verbalize his discomfort.

“Dear god almighty this hurts a lot more then I thought it would. I’m really hoping that what Frida said was true and that this Imh’ega can do something about it…”

For the next few steps it was nothing but mental and physical discomfort over his battered body, but eventually Andrew was able to make it to the door of the bilge. Oddly enough, the whole place seemed to be sealed off by this one door. A curious thing to be sure, but Andrew didn’t pay it much mind. Unlatching the door, Andrew walked into it and was somewhat surprised to see that there were about three more steps he had to walk down on. However, that wasn’t the most interesting thing he could see down here. Actually, it was the fact that he couldn’t see much of anything that was more of a surprise to him. Just outside of the last step and he could see a little water, but anything beyond that last step was nothing but an inky jet black. It reminded him of that darkness that he had encountered in the lowest part of the shadow labyrinth, and that worried him just a little bit. However, unlike last time, he wasn’t stupid enough to try to put his hand into it. Just as he was about to turn around and opt for the shower instead, he was surprised to see that he had missed one little detail in all of that darkness. Actually, it wasn’t a very small detail at all, in fact being quite bright in all of that black. There was the vivid glowing shape of a white… for lack of a better term, _thing_ way in the back.

At first, he wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but when it moved, Andrew quickly came to grasp that the _thing_ was in fact a person. A younger looking Mamono of sorts if he was seeing it right. It was easy for him to tell that she was a Mamono due to the fact that the lower half of her body was nothing but a writhing mass of tentacles. Ten in total if he was counting right, but they were moving so much that he was having a hard time making sure if that was one hundred percent accurate. Even more odd was the fact that her skin was albino white, making her shine in the darkness of the room. Andrew found her pure white skin hypnotic to look at, but he found himself drawn to the rest of her as he observed her. She had long wild violet hair that was about as long as her tentacles. Just as her powerful looking lower limbs had some mass and strength to them, so her upper body seemed to be slimmer by comparison. She was somewhat thin in certain places, though the more sexual parts of her body like her breasts, hips, and ass had some meat to them.

Through all of this, Andrew had noticed that her eyes had been closed as she lay down, but as he made an unconscious step forward, he found her opening her eyes lazily. Just like her hair, she had a violet hue to them, but they seemed to glow like the rest of her did. Something he didn’t notice before was the oddly shaped squid like top behind her head. He wasn’t sure if it was some kind of odd headpiece, but he doubted that was the case since it seemed to give her a trademark squid look and thus was probably part of her body.

For a moment or two, Andrew didn’t say anything as Imh’ege seemed to be trying to focus in on him after her awakening. It didn’t take very long for her eyes to widen and a smile to spread on her white face. Oddly enough though, her body seemed to change some slight color, or more specifically, some spots lit up on her in a strange and quick flashing. Andrew could only attribute it to how some cephalopods had the ability to create flashing patterns across their bodies to attracted or stun prey. However, he was interrupted from the thought when she spoke up loud enough for him to hear her.

“New face? New face! Come to see Imh’ege? Nice to meet you? Nice to meet you! Who are you?”

She seemed to be speaking in some broken English of sorts, but her attitude was excitable. Andrew, who had only looked at her for a few moments, only smiled at her excited attitude.

“Hello there Imh’ege. I don’t know if you’ve heard of me, but my name is Andrew.”

For a moment, the Kraken thought about what he had said before she spoke up with some recognition.

“Familiar? Familiar! Captain told me about you! You very special passenger! Said to treat you real nice! You come to be treated nice?”

Chuckling a little to himself, Andrew nodded.

“A little bit. See, I kinda got in a mock fight, and my body is pretty damn sore. I was told by your shipmate Frida that you could do something about it?”

Andrew had never seen anybody go from happy to even more excited before in his life, so to see that he saw it from the Kraken was something of a first for him. The girl seemed to bounce up and down in joy at the mention of it.

“Need healing? Need healing! I can do that! Imh’ege is good at healing!”

Andrew continued to smile at her exuberance… but only for a moment longer before Imh’ege’s tentacles shot out at him and trapped his arms and legs. He was to surprised by the sudden situation to cry out or even ponder on what exactly it was that was going on before he was reeled back into the room with the Kraken woman, her arms opened up wide as she pulled him into a warm and admittedly wet embrace. Despite the strength she had used to reel him in like a fish, Imh’ege still had him tied up with her tentacles, though it wasn’t a painful or tight grip.

Just firm was all.

Looking down at her, Andrew was about to ask her what she was up to, but he put that thought on hold when he saw her eyes. Yes, they where a bright violet color, but from a distance, Andrew wasn’t able to see that unlike normal eyes, Imh’ege had multiple irises in both her eyes, almost like compound eyes but much larger and not nearly as many in one eye. It must have showed on his expression, because she cocked her head to the side in some thought before she spoke up.

“Looking at gift from father? Is a wonderful gift? Is wonderful gift! See many things, though captain says disturbs others. Does it disturb Andrew?”

Andrew had to think about that one for a second, but he quickly shook his head a moment later.

“No, not really, was just surprised more then anything. I’ve never seen eyes like your before. You said they are a gift from your father? What do you mean by that?”

“Father is unique being, sleeps deep deep in the ocean, further then most go. Mother found father after he called to her. Happily joined together! Was born without eyes, so father gave me some of his! I see many things! All wonderful! Can see father too when he awakens sometimes, happily joined with mother!”

Andrew wasn’t certain exactly what it was Imh’ege was on about, but the disjointed way she talked made it seem cute. Seeing as the Kraken allowed him to move freely, he couldn’t help but reach up and gently stroke the top of her head with a smile.

“I see… your father must love you a lot then. Anyway… just a little curious, but why exactly do you have me wrapped up like this?”

As if to punctuate his point, Andrew lifted his arm to show off one of her twirling tentacles.

“Is for healing! But first, clothing must go, gets in way? Gets in way! Imh’ege can’t do well with clothes on people!”

Curiously looking at her, Andrew felt her tentacles begin working his clothes off, the drenched fabric easily manipulated despite the size of her extra appendages. Thinking back to an hour ago, Andrew couldn’t help but mentally thank Labareda for telling him not to wear any small clothes, because he had seen enough hentai doujins to know where this was going. He honestly couldn’t say he wasn’t looking forward to whatever this sweet girl was going to do though. Feeling his pants and shirt come off of him, Andrew looked down in enough time to see Imh’ege embrace him with her own two arms, though the feeling of her tentacles wrapping around him along with her full body hug left him with a peculiar feeling of tenderness. However, he still couldn’t deny that his knobgoblin was standing at attention and ready to explore deep wet depths.

Though his restricted status didn’t allow him much in the way of trying to do this. A moment later though and he felt Imh’eges tentacles start to undulate on his skin, the motions felling soothing and relaxing as they began to work out the soreness in his body. Letting out a rather surprised grunt, Andrew followed it up with a content sigh as the rippling effects of the smooth tentacles seems to kneed him gently down to the bone.

But that wasn’t all he was feeling.

No sir, not at all.

Even more surprising outside of the relaxing massage was the wet and almost sticky texture of her body. He thought he would have been grossed out by something like this, but he found that he enjoyed it. Letting himself become more entangled in her tentacles, Andrew found that he was soon laying down with her in a bed of her own body, the relaxing feeling of her body causing his soreness and muscle stiffness to ebb away. Though it wasn’t until a moment later that he noticed an odd little sensation on his body along with the light squeezing. Andrew could only look down to ascertain what it was, but he quickly realized it when he saw it.

The little suckers on her tentacles were seemingly sticking to him, only coming off when she would slither said tentacle tighter or looser depending on some mysterious integer. It was like having little wet sucking mouths on his body, showering his form in kiss’s. However, he felt that Imh’ege was also kissing him around his neck with her actual lips. He wasn’t sure what that had to do with this relaxing massage, but he wasn’t going to complain regardless of what she did. 

Even when he did feel that one of her tentacles was starting to wrap around his erected member. Blinking a few times in sudden realization, Andrew looked down at the Kraken girl, her face looking just as bright a moment ago, though only with a curious tilt to her head.

“Hum? Is everything fine?”

He felt like he should have asked her why she was suddenly stroking him off, but at the same time, he kinda figured that if that’s what she wanted to do, who was he to try to stop her? Cause he knew that unless it got dangerous, he wasn’t going to do anything of the sort.

Only smiling down at her, Andrew relaxed even more.

“Nope. Feel free to continue.”

Only nodding her head in understanding, Imh’ege drew her attention back to what she was doing, the girl beginning to expertly squeeze and stroke around his body. Andrew had to admit that she seemed a little more focused on his dick after he had given her the go ahead though, the feeling of his cock being fully enveloped being very distinct, but not unfamiliar. A few more minutes into the relaxation session and Andrew felt that not one, but several of her tentacles had been expertly wrapped around his member, the feeling somewhat akin to a very sticky and realistic onahole. What made it even better was the suckers on her tentacles though, those little suction cups clinging to his cock and bringing an unexplored sense of pleasure that he never would have known. Grunting at the feeling of this new sensation, Andrew couldn’t help but mutter under his breath as the tentacles seemed to stroke and twirl around his cock. 

“Ohhh… fuck… I could get addicted to that feeling…”

What was even more amazing to him was the fact that despite some of her tentacles hard at work on his groin, Imh’ege had not relinquished nor stopped working his body with it’s oh so comfortable and relaxing squeezing. The pale girl herself could only smile at him as she kissed him under his chin.

“Imh’ege doing well?”

“You’re doing- ah shit…- You’re doing great. Never had anything like this ever happen to me, but it’s fantastic…”

The kraken could only smile as she began to increase the speed of her tentacles. Andrew felt his body begin to react to the sudden increase, the girl pleased by his praise and seemingly wanting to impress him even more with her technique. Andrew’s body tensed up at the sensation, the girl not letting him do much with the way he was wrapped up, but the feeling of being in a loving embrace leaving him not wanting to try in the first place. It didn’t take very long for Andrew’s body to respond to the sexual stimuli’s, and without much warning, he felt himself loose a torrent of life-giving seed into the sticky tentacle onahole. It was a little embarrassing to have let himself cum so easily, but Imh’ege’s technique, experience, and loving affections with this had left him at her mercy.

Feeling the mana from his essence flow onto her white appendages, the Kraken removed her even more sticky tentacles from his cock and brought them close to her face to lick it off. Looking at Andrew with her ever present smile, she curiously cocked her head to the side.

“You enjoyed?”

Still in relaxation mood, Andrew nodded his head at her as he tested to see if he had access to free movement again. Finding that he did, Andrew wrapped his arms around the girl.

“Very much so… but it makes me a little sad that I couldn’t do the same for you. I’m sure that it’s frustrating to be the only one doing all the work after all.”

The violet haired Kraken could only grin and giggle at his affectionate embrace, the girl hugging him back with her… well… everything.

“Sometimes. You offer to play with me? Imh’ege happy to be enjoyed? Imh’ege happy to be enjoyed!”

Grinning to himself at the girl’s enthusiasm, Andrew began moving his hand further down her body, his fingers eager to return the favor.

“I’m sure we both would.”

Needless to say, both of them knew what was going to happen, and neither one would have disagreed to do it.

Meanwhile though, going back to before all of this occurred, even before Andrew had his mock fight with Jonathan, Aruma found herself waking up to the sound of a closing door. At first, she wasn’t sure what had caused the noise in the first place, but it was a little hard for the young girl to see much of anything with her face so covered by a mass of breasts in front of her. Thinking back to why this would be, she quickly remembered that when she had come down here with Serena, the Dark mage had already been fast asleep. Having thought that she looked very comfortable, Aruma had opted to do much the same thing since she herself was still feeling somewhat tired. After that she had crawled into bed with her and had nestled up beside her. That was all she remembered until just now, but she quickly got it into her head to detach herself from Unoma to see what all had changed since she had gone to sleep.

Forcing herself to get out of the Dark Mages grip, Aruma looked to see that Labareda and Serena where behind her, but that there was a distance between herself and Lab. She could figure that someone had been there before, no doubt Andrew, and that he probably just woke up and left the room. She felt a little nervous when Andrew wasn’t around truth be told. He made her feel safe and gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling in her chest. Though it wasn’t that she didn’t dislike any other members of his group. Serena acted a lot like how her brother would, trying to look out for her and taking care of her. Unoma seemed to like her a lot, though she seemed to get very clingy if given a choice in the matter.

Labareda was the one she had the least interaction with. Though they both looked about the same age, Aruma could tell that she had an aura of age and experience about her that made it a little hard for her to approach. Though that didn’t mean she disliked her or anything, but it made her feel like she was in the presence of someone like her brother. Vastly wise, powerful, and not someone who should be talked to carelessly. However, just as she thought that, the familiar right across from her quickly seemed to wake up, the demon quickly sitting herself up and looking around the room before she seems to hone in on the angel.

“I take it Andrew has left the room already.”

Only responding with a trademark ‘nh’, Aruma only blinked a few times after that. Labareda for her part, let out a small sigh.

“Even though I said I would much rather be with him at all times… oh well. We are on a relatively safe ship, and I doubt anything could or would hurt him here. I’m still not amused by this though.”

All of that had been said out loud, but it seemed mostly to be monologue. This left Aruma in something of an awkward situation as she didn’t know if she could think of anything to speak to the familiar about. However, the option was taken out of her hands when Labareda looked over at her with a curious gaze in her eyes.

“Hum… though you and I are not technically alone, it would appear that outside of Master, you and I are the only ones awake. This is rare as I have wanted to talk to you for a time now.”

A little curious, and maybe nervous, Aruma spoke up quietly.

“Y-you did? What for?”

Labareda, seeing the girl’s nervous expression, only smiled at her.

“Relax. It’s nothing majorly important. I just wanted to converse with you about your divine power. You have a lot of it you see, at the level of a major divine… maybe even more, though you are quite thoroughly drained of it. It’s why you’ve been sleeping a lot in an attempt to recover. Though at the rate it’s going it will be years before you’re back to full power. Well, without help at any rate.”

Aruma looked to the demonic familiar with a curious gaze, followed by a question.

“Without help?”

Labareda., now sitting cross-legged across from Aruma, only nodded her head.

“Yeah, as a being more inclined toward divine essence, you have potent power, but the trade off is that it’s slow to recover unless you happen to be in places rich with divine energy. But even then, it still takes a while”

Aruma, who had always been brimming with power at all times back in her own world, could only take all this information with a nod of her head, though she was highly curious about it.

“I hadn’t been aware of that… my brother prevented me from using my power due to the dangers, so I didn’t know that it was slow to recover. But… I think it’s fine that way.”

Lab, now curious, cocked her head at the girl as she crossed her arms.

“Oh? You don’t know how to control your power?”

The blonde girl only responded with a simple ‘Nh’ in response, though it was all Labareda needed.

“I see… and with that much power… I get it now… You might be dangerous to others with that amount of power. Unchecked and you might bring about Armageddon. I can see why you where restricted. However, it never hurts to have a backup plan in the event things go awry. Your lucky your so weak right now as this is actually a great opportunity to learn how to do it.”

Aruma nodded her head before she spoke up.

“Sarya also said much the same thing… but she also believed that Big Brother Andrew might be able to do something as well.”

“Ahhhh… that makes sense. Master’s own power vastly outstrips even a number of gods, so it doesn’t surprise me. Though just like you, he isn’t aware of how to control his power yet. That’s why myself and Unoma are trying to take it slow in teaching him magic. With the amount he has, even the simplest of spells could prove devastating. Unlike you though, since his essence is a combination of both demonic and human, it recovers quickly. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing though…”

Labareda trailed off at that, leaving Aruma to catch onto the tail end of the conversation. However, Lab only seemed to ponder on it a moment later before she turned her attention back to the winged girl.

“Enough about that. I couldn’t help but notice what you said a moment ago about Master. You called him Big Brother? I’m curious about that.”

Aruma flushed a little when it was pointed out, the girl not even being aware that she had said it.

“I… I wasn’t thinking when I said it… he reminds me very much of my big Brother Alex is all… He may not look anything like him, but he feels and acts very similar.”

Labareda only smiled.

“I’m sure he doesn’t mind. In fact, I’m sure he would like it even more if you kept calling him that.”

Aruma flushed even more at that.

“I…I couldn’t do that.”

Labareda only chuckled to herself before she stretched herself out and began to get up.

“Suite yourself I suppose… Anyway… I find there is no more reason to laze about. I’m about to go and look for master. Would you like to come with me?”

Happy to have the subject change, Aruma nodded her head as she was still feeling a little restless away from Andrew. Quickly nodding her head, Aruma was careful to extract herself from the mattress and both the woman on it with Labareda. It didn’t take them very long to exit the room, though when they left, Aruma spoke up.

“Hopefully he’s close by…”

Labareda grinned as she took the lead, Aruma all to happy to let the more confident girl do so.

“He is. Being his familiar, I can sense his presence very easily. He could be on the other side of the world and I would still know where he might be… or a least his general direction.”

“That sounds amazing.”

“It really isn’t, most familiars can do it if they are in tune with their masters. Mine being much more closely tied to me then even he realizes.”

Aruma found that word choice to be odd, but she only figured it was the nature of their relationship and didn’t ponder on it anymore. Though she did pose another type of question.

“Then do you know exactly where he is now?”

Labareda nodded her head before she pointed downward.

“I can feel him right below us somewhere. Meaning he must have gone deeper into the ship. I happened to see a set of stairs behind the ones we came down on, so that logically should be where we will also go.”

Aruma could only nod in agreement with her. The both of them proceeded in silence until they eventually made it to the stairs that Lab had mentioned. However, they where quick to note that instead of a stairway ending in a hallway, it ended at a door. A slightly agape door if they paid attention. However, it was the faint noises occurring behind it that made Aruma tilt her head curiously.

“What’s that sound? It sounds like… something slapping together?”

Where Aruma was only confused, Labareda only had to listen in for a moment with her vastly superior ears to hear what was going on behind that door. For a moment, she was thinking about if it would be best to divert the girl away from the situation, but the darker and more mischievous part of her won out.

Despite not knowing what her knowledge level was in regards to sexual matters, Lab justified what she was about to do with the thought that Aruma was going to need to learn about it in the future anyway. With a grin in her mind hidden by a face of curiosity, Labareda only looked at Aruma with a shrug.

“No idea, let’s check it out though to see what it is.”

With absolutely no doubt in the demonic familiars’ words, Aruma made her way down the steps followed closely by Labareda. It didn’t take them very long to make it to the doorway, Aruma now hearing more then just the slapping sounds going on. Her curiosity now piqued, Aruma raised her hand up and gently pushed the door open.

At first, she wasn’t sure what she was looking at. Or more specifically, she wasn’t sure what was going on. She could see Andrew along with what looked to be some kind of octopus woman of sorts (Aruma had read about them before). However, they seemed to be very close together, and they were embracing each other. What was even more odd was that they where both naked. Andrew was pistoning his hips into the woman's lower half, the clapping of flesh creating one part of the noises she was hearing. The other noises included heavy breathing and… unusual moans coming from the both of them; on top of a wet slapping sound that would resound each time Andrew would thrust his hips into the other woman. Aruma, now starting to pay more attention, could see that Andrews penis was inserted into what looked to be the woman’s vagina. The blond girl knew exactly what those where seeing as she had studied them, but it took her a bit longer to realize exactly what was going on here. Before she could voice it though, Labareda’s voice beside her cut off anymore train of thought.

“Ah, so that’s what he was doing. I feel slightly annoyed at the fact that Master seems to want to indulge in the body of another woman when he has me and Unoma. I mean, I know he enjoys sex with me at least, not so sure about Unoma though, that woman’s body getting older and older with each passing century.”

However, after one particular word, Aruma had failed to hear anything else out of Labareda’s mouth.

Sex. She was watching people have sex.

At that realization, Aruma felt something in her body seem to change. She felt her face flush, her eyes still glued to the sight of Andrew savagely pounding his dick into another woman’s pussy. Looking at it left Aruma wide eyed and mouth open. It felt as if her body was heating up, the lower part of her stomach warming up considerably while also seemingly… lifting? She wasn’t sure, Aruma had never felt this way before in her life, and on some levels, it felt a little scary to her. Even more so when she felt some unusual wetness where her vagina was. For another minute or so, all she did was watch, that feeling of heat in her body only growing. But eventually it started to get to a point where she didn’t know how to handle it, so she did the next best thing she could think of and turned herself around and walked out of the room, though when she passed the threshold of the door, just the sounds and the memory of what she had seen where still enough to keep all of those weird sensation in her body coming. Labareda, who had watched her for a moment, felt a lewd grin cross her face as Aruma left the room, the look of confused arousal on her face leaving a grin on the familiars own. Though the sounds of Andrews love making caused her to look back in enough time to watch him thrust deeply into the woman’s pussy, his body clenching as he spilled his seed deep inside her womb. Feeling just a little dejected at the fact that that wasn’t her, Labareda decided to bring her attention back to Aruma, who had made her way back to the top of the steps. 

Quickly making her way upward, Labareda gently poked one of the girls wings to get her attention.

“Hey there. Are you okay? Your face is awfully red.”

Looking back to Labareda, Aruma stuttered with her words, her mind still confused as she tried to make sense of what her body was doing and feeling.

“I… I think… I… I’m not…I can’t…”

Labareda gently placed a hand on her shoulder as she smiled at the girl, a look of some deep understanding on her face, though it was mostly planned.

“Are you perhaps having some issues figuring out what you just saw? Are you not familiar with sex and the things that go with it?”

Aruma quickly shook her head, her hands clenched in front of her chest tightly.

“N-No! I know… about it… I just… I never would have… I’ve studied it… but never did I expect it to… I feel so…”

Labareda watched and listened to her stumble over her words a bit more before she put her hand on top of the girl’s head and gave her a gentle headpat.

“Relax. Let’s find a place to sit down so we can talk about it. I’m sure your more than confused about what you saw.”

Aruma nodded her head in confirmation, everything that Labareda said making sense to her. It didn’t take them very long to make it back into the room, where they then sat down on the open couch quietly so as not to disturb Serena and Unoma. Labareda watched Aruma for a moment, the girls head tilted downward while her eyes seemed to be roaming rapidly. Her fingers had intertwined with each other as she seemed to fiddle with her own hands in a nervous energy. Labareda let a sigh escape her lips before she started talking.

“So… I take it that was your first time actually witnessing the act of sex. Am I right?”

Aruma only nodded her head, the girl not sure where she should be looking right now.

“Y-yes… I knew about it… I didn’t have a lot to do when I was kept in the palace… but I was allowed to study a lot of things in my free time… procreation and breeding was one of them. Since I had read a lot about it, I hadn’t thought anything of it… but…”

“Seeing it in person was a vastly different experience for you. is that correct?”

Aruma quickly nodded.

“Y-yes… I don’t know what I’m feeling right now… I never felt like this before… I’m… I’m scared of what it is.”

Labareda, despite her licentious motives, couldn’t help but feel a pang of some sympathy for the poor girl. However, it wasn’t enough for her to want to stop corrupting her.

“Oh now now… There’s no need to be afraid. This is natural for living creatures, especially for those who discover it for the first time.”

Bringing her face level with the familiar with a confused, but inquisitive look, Aruma only stared on at her; intent on hearing what she had to say.

“It… It is?”

“Yes. What your feeling is a desire to breed. Those feelings in your body are a natural mechanism for preparing for that. Your obviously scared of the feeling because You have never encountered it before. Thankfully I’m here to help you. Let me show you what I mean.”

Moving herself right next to the winged girl, Labareda moved one of her paws to where Aruma’s womb was at.

“Feel this? Notice how it seemed to get hot and… float for lack of a better term? That’s your body preparing itself for the act of sex. And this? further down?”

With her paw still on her body, Labareda oh so slowly moved it further down her naval until she had moved beyond the realm of personal privacy and placed it directly on Aruma’s wet crotch, the girl letting out a small gasp at the touch.

“This slickness is your body also preparing yourself for the act of sex. This place here becomes particularly pleasurable when a man inserts his penis into it, just like how you saw Master doing with that other woman. Though…”

Letting that word hang off her lips, Aruma felt Labareda begin to gently stroke her pussy up and down, the girl clenching at the sudden new contact and the tingling sensation it brought with it.

“Sometimes a woman doesn’t need something inside her to make her feel wonderful. Many times, we just need our own hands to get us to that point… or the hands of another.”

Aruma felt Labareda’s soft pads begin to gently kneed and massage her lower lips, the girl feeling her legs start to come together at the pleasurable torture running through her body. However, she was not to receive a reprieve from it, the girls shuddering and tensing of her body only spurring Lab to intensify her molesting of the girl’s pussy.

Aruma could only grip herself tightly, the demonic familiar having full control of the situation and her body with it. The feeling running through her body was like those of when she witnessed Andrew pounding into the other woman, only even more so. Amazingly, having thoughts of that very act seemed to enhance the experience for her, even more so when her mind seemed to turn to thoughts of being embraced and fucked herself.

The short gasps of air coming from her mouth along with the quickly building feeling in her body left her puzzled, but it all felt so good that she couldn’t bring herself to mind it at all, only wanted to experience more of it. Thankfully, the demon next to her only obliged that feeling in her, and she felt her mind seem to tip down a white nothing as her body clenched tightly and a sudden feeling of grand euphoria filled her below her belly.

Labareda, having been doing everything in her power to make it happen, was surprised when Aruma clenched and let out a very loud and very sexual scream, the feeling of her paws quickly becoming wet indicating to her what had just happened. However, she quickly turned around to look and see if she had woken the other two up, but surprisingly, they were still fast asleep. She could only attribute it to Unoma having done something over the bed to block out loud noises, so she put it to the back of her mind. Turning her attention back to Aruma, Labareda was content to see the girl leaning back into the couch, slack and looking happily dazed. Finding that it would be rude to just leave her there, Labareda wrapped an arm around the girl and held her close while gently stroking her hair, gently talking to her.

“There now… see? It’s not so bad of an experience…”

Aruma only nodded her head in agreement, the afterglow of her orgasm still running through her body enough so that simple thought was too much to handle for her. Lab, for her part, simply kept the girl comfortable as she continued to gently stroke her head. After a few minutes of recovering though, and Aruma suddenly seemed to realize what it was that had just happened. Her face reddening in both embarrassment and shame as she threw her hands over her face, not really ready to look at anybody for how she had been feeling a moment ago. Labareda only continue to hold and stroking her, the feeling of a gentle touch calming her down as she sorted through the emotions. Thankfully, Labareda’s words helped her out a lot. Eventually, she managed to get to a point where she felt she could talk again.

“T-That was… I… I don’t know how best to describe it…”

Thankfully, the demon answered it for her.

“Exhilarating? Sensual? Wonderful? I’m not surprised, especially for someone who has never seemingly masturbated before. Thankfully I went easy on you since you’re a first-timer. Who knows how it might have gone if you hade done it with someone who lacked a gentle touch… though I’m sure if master had done it, he would have been even more amazing.”

At the mention of Andrew, Aruma went back to the thoughts she had as Lab’s touch elated her. Her blush came back in more force as she covered her face.

“I… I’m such a dirty person…”

Lab, who saw the girl’s emotions at the mention of her master, only hugged her tighter as she nuzzled into the girls cheek.

“All creatures are Dirty Aruma, that doesn’t make it wrong. Your free to think as much about sex as you want. Just don’t turn into a useless sex cow Like Unoma over there who literally won’t do anything.”

“I resent that remark you know.”

Both girls jumped at the sound of a voice behind them, the both of them quickly turning around to see said Dark mage was floating above the bed with a smile on her face. Aruma was struck for words, But Labareda only let out an annoyed huff.

“So you where awake. I had a feeling that you wouldn’t have slept through all of that.”

Unoma only chuckled to herself as she hovered over to the two of them and touched down in front of them.

“Of course not. Though I figured Dear Master would have been the one to lay his hands on dear Aruma first. Though I will say you where much gentler with her then you where with me my first time.”

Lab only hugged the girl tighter as she took on a pouty face with Unoma.

“This girl is a darling little angel. You where a slutty vixen who had obviously slept around before you even discovered magic.”

Unoma only waved the comment aside.

“I can’t say your wrong. Anyway, I think our little girl here needs a bath after what you did with her. Do you mind joining me Aruma? I could use a partner to help me with my hair. I promise I’ll do the same for you.”

Aruma, who was getting over the fact that she had been watched during the whole thing, only nodded her head. Thankfully she felt a little safer with Unoma in regards to sexual things seeing as she treated her nicely. The Dark Mage only smiled at her as she held her hand out.

“Excellent. I want to freshen up a bit before dinner is ready soon, and if what I’m smelling is any good, we should be excepting it fairly soon.”

Taking her hand, Unoma and Aruma made there way to the shower, Lab only watching as the both of them vanished behind the door. She then looked behind her at the bed and let a cunning grin plaster her face.

“Not going to say anything Serena?”

The sound of a sharp intake of breath followed by a ‘shit’ was her only answer before Serena pushed herself to sitting status. The silk negligee covering everything from the top of her bust down while she pushed her unbound hair out of the way.

“You’re a deviant you know that? Teaching a girl like that all that stuff.”

“Says one of two voyeurs who watched me do it without saying anything.”

Serena let her blush redden even further, but she only shook her head at her.

“Whatever… by the way, where is Andrew?”

Labareda looked over at the door leading outside of the room and pointed at it. She then proceeded to make a shooting motion with her paw. The moment she did and the door opened up to reveal aforementioned male walk through the door looking like he had just pulled himself out of a body of water. Seeing both girls looking at him, he couldn’t help but blink a few times.

“Ah… I see everyone is awake. Where’s Unoma and Aruma?”

Lab pointed to the shower room behind her.

“In the shower. They happened to go in there just now. I think Aruma may have wet herself a little a bit ago and Unoma offered to help wash her… though from the looks of you, you might need the same.”

Looking down at himself, Andrew did admit that she was probably right.

“Good idea… I think I’ll join them. Do you mind drying my clothes off for me Lab? I don’t know if there is an Extra set in that pile and I don’t want to go looking. Oh, also, Silque told me that dinner will be ready soon, so might want to get ready for that.”

With that out of the way, Andrew quickly undressed and made his way into the shower room, rather exhausted even though he had only been up for at most an hour. However, he wasn’t aware that the rest of the day would potentially send him right back to this very shower room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback appreciated


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Andrew felt that he may be in a bit of a pickle. It wasn’t anything Major, but at the same time, he wasn’t very used to being the center of attention in… well, any kind of event. It had been a little over thirty minutes since he had gotten done showering with Unoma and Aruma. Thankfully, nothing of a lewd nature had happened while he had bathed (both girls being content to wash themselves, though Unoma had seemed to hint at wanting to do something more) and by the time he had gotten done, one of the crew told them that Dinner was pretty much ready. Unlike what he had been expecting, dinner was a kind of soup that was easily served. There also wasn’t any kind of place to sit at like a dinner table. From what Andrew could see, the crew ate out on the deck, that way they could respond to any situations that needed their attention. Andrew, who had opted to eat outside, had set himself down close to the mast so that he could have something to lean his back against as he ate. However, seeing as pretty much everyone was out here eating under the sun and the sea breeze, he had managed to focus most of the crew’s attention onto himself… along with some of his own party. Most of the females outside of the captain and Imh’ege (who hadn’t left the Bilge) where busy looking at him with expectation and suspense. Though it was of varying degrees based on who was looking.

Andrew had to admit that he knew why the crew was looking at him, seeing as he had made several promises to them. His familiars made sense because he knew they would get a kick out of what he was going to do. Serena only looked at him with an annoyed expression, though he really doubted he could fault her on it since he was pretty much acting like a deviant with all of these women. Aruma oddly enough didn’t seem to be making eye contact with him. That was something he noticed when he had been bathing with her and Unoma. Though he wasn’t sure what for. Opting to push it out of his mind, Andrew took a a drink of the soup in his hand. It was quite hearty and filled with a lot of sea flavors, a flavor he greatly enjoyed. Though truth be told he wouldn’t have minded if he had some solid seafood, though the bits of kelp and other items where quite tasty and fulfilling in their own way. Obviously focused on the bowl in his hands, Andrew didn’t notice someone approached until they where in his line of sight.

That person was Sarya, the elf.

Curious, Andrew looked at her and gave her a big smile.

“Hey there, come and sit with me. It kinda lonely when nobody seems to want to talk with me.”

“Don’t mind if I do then.”

Smiling down at him, Sarya moved around to his side and sat down.

“So Sarya, What brings you over here? As you can see, the crew is ready to jump me the first chance they get and my own party seems content to let them have me.”

“That would probably be because it’s kinda what they expect from you at this point, so I don’t think they want to get in the way when the inevitable happens. Anyway, as for the reason why I’m here, I wanted to talk with you about something.”

Nodding his head at her, Andrew took another drink out of his soup bowl, his curiosity piqued.

“Alright, what did you wanna talk about?”

“It about two of your members of your party. Aruma and Serena.”

Curious, Andrew looked over at aforementioned girls for a quick second before his attention was focused back on Sarya.

“What about them? Is something the matter?”

Sarya had to think about that for a moment before she sheepishly nodded at him.

“Kinda… yeah. Let’s focus on Aruma first though since she’s the biggest mystery. What is she so nervous about all of a sudden? She seems to be looking at you in an odd fashion.”

Andrew shrugged his shoulders.

“I have no idea. She seemed to be acting that way when I came back from… doing something else.”

“The Kraken right?”

“Ehe he he he… yeeeeeeah.”

Andrew simply smiled at her with a meek expression on his face. Though it quickly fell away when he continued.

“But yeah, I got no idea why she’s acting the way she is right now.”

Sarya hummed a little under her breath as she looked at the girl, Aruma seemingly more interested in something Labareda was saying to her at the moment for the angelic girl to focus over on Andrew. 

“I see… well if you don’t know, then maybe I can ask someone else about it from your group. I do worry about the girl after all.”

“Me thinks you would be trying to adopt her at this point if given a chance.”

“Oh most definitely. However, she seems more attached to your group then to me at the moment, so I doubt she would want to travel with us. Not only that, but Morgana is terrible with Kids, and Jonathan would want to leave her somewhere for her own safety. He wouldn’t be wrong, but I think her being with you and your group would be much better for her.”

Andrew nodded, though he was a little surprised that Sarya seemed to hold him in a high regard.

“Well… that’s comforting to hear… But if that’s all about Aruma, what is it you want to talk about with Serena?”

“Ah Right…”

For a moment, she didn’t say anything, leaving Andrew a little confused at the fact that she normally would have just straight up told him. He got the feeling that it was going to be important though, so he opted to be patient until she worked up enough will to speak her mind.

“So… about Serena… I’m curious. In the time you’ve spent together, have you noticed anything odd about her?”

Curious as to why she would start off with a question off all things, Andrew had to think about it for a moment before he tried to recall anything that may have seemed off. In comparison to her character from the game in comparison to how she was in person, Andrew had to admit that she seemed… different in various aspects. Of course, he had to admit that a person was vastly more complex in comparison to a video game character. However, he hadn’t noticed anything odd about her at first. Though his mind did fall to the more recent interaction with her. Like when she was in the shower or yesterday. Or even that time with the minotaur. Thinking about it, he had been noticing some things, and he nodded his head to affirm Sarya’s question. 

“Some things.”

Sarya nodded her head before she continued.

“Where any of them more… sexual in nature.”

“Oh yeah. I think that makes up a majority of it.”

He had said all of that without any hesitation, his interest now high in relation to what Sarya might say. 

“I see… so she’s started to exhibit those natural instincts…”

She had seemingly said that more to herself, but Andrew had heard it all the same. Only confused, Andrew waited a moment longer to see if she was going to explain what she was on about. Thankfully his patience was rewarded.

“So… do you remember some time back when we were talking about mamono in general? And how I said that there was a certain energy that now permeated the world that could turn woman into mamono though its only strong in certain areas?”

Andrew could see exactly where this was going.

“I do recall that yes. And I don’t think I like where this is about to go.”

“Well, don’t knock it just yet. But as you have no doubt guessed, Serena is being turned into one. Actually, when we first met, she was in the process of becoming one.”

Andrew only nodded his head before he let out a low sigh.

“Right… I figured you where going to say something along those lines… can you guess what from? And is there a way to reverse it? How far along is she?”

“I’ll answer in order of the questions presented. I don’t need to guess. It was that sword of hers. In many ancient tombs and forgotten relics of the past, people can find these powerful looking weapons. However, not all of them are normal, many of them having the ‘cursed’ attribute. They’re rare anymore, but any cursed weapon tends to be littered with the power of the Current maou, so anybody who picks them up gets much much stronger, but it converts them into a mamono known as a cursed weapon. In Serenas case, she’s being turned into a Cursed Sword. As for if there is a cure for Monsterization, sadly there isn’t. Fourteen hundred years and nobody can do it. Even the Maou has stated that she can’t do anything about it at this point. As for how far along she is… well, I’d give her another month before she’s turned completely.”

Andrew honestly didn’t have a response to that. It was hard to find anything meaningful to say in the face of finding something like this out, even more so when it has something to do with someone he knows and cared about. Putting his food next to him, Andrew brought a hand to his brow and started to rub there, as if to stimulate his brain into thinking of things to ask. He was a man that was taught to think and to collect information, gather everything he could so that he could come up with the best solution available.

“Alright… so… what changes about her? Outside of getting more sexual I mean? Also, why didn’t you tell me sooner? Or better yet, why aren’t you telling _Serena_ about this? This has to do with her after all, so she should be informed of what’s occurring in her mind and body.”

Sarya laughed sheepishly as she turned away from him and drew her attention to something in the distance.

“Um… I guess I didn’t tell her because… I didn’t think it was important. See, I’ve been a mamono for a number of years, and nothing really changed about me… well, outside of my sudden spike in love for dick. I may have changed just a bit, but I got stronger in the process. But I was an elf originally… still am really, but I’m what would be called a corrupted elf. It’s not a bad thing really… anyway, back to Serena. She won’t change, but I’m sure she’s starting to get a little confused about her emotional state. For me, I suddenly started to become more attracted to sexual acts, and I can tell that she hasn’t been told about it… despite the fact that Labareda and Unoma could very easily see it. But they seemed to think along the same lines I did. There isn’t much that can be done for her now. But your right, she should be informed about it. I feel like it would be better coming from someone she likes though.”

Andrew was going to say something about all of this, something a little hard due to the fact that he felt that it wasn’t a minor issue, but the tail end of her sentence stopped him.

“Wait… what? Someone she likes?”

“Yeah. A Mamono can have sex with anybody they want, but when they find someone they truly love or are really set on a particular man, then they kinda give off this signal. Serena exhibits this aura when your around, meaning that she’s really into you. Lucky you right?”

Andrew only blinked a bit, an almost vacant stare on his face at this realization. However, he quickly shook it away as another thought came into mind.

“How can you be sure that’s how she really feels about me? What if it’s just some cause of her transformation?”

Sarya actually looked like she was annoyed at that, surprising for Andrew considering what was actually being discussed right now. 

“Look, it’s not something that can really be explained. A girl… a mamono will give off this kind of feeling that will show this. For humans its love, for mamono we just know. Just trust me on it.”

Andrew nodded his head at her, the woman’s conviction easily identifiable. Letting a low sigh escape his mouth, Andrew could only mentally draw inward at this. Serena was turning into a Mamono and there was nothing he could do about it. Sadly, now that he knew, it would obviously need to fall to him to tell her the truth at some point. It wasn’t going to be easy though, trying to explain to her that her own body was changing on an emotional and physical level. It still needed to be done.

Sarya’s voice a moment later brought him out of it though.

“Well… that was all I really needed to talk to you about… but I guess I could also ask one more thing. How are you holding up?”

Curious, Andrew cocked his head to the side in some confusion.

“How do you mean?”

“Well, I’m asking because you’ve been here for a while now… you said at some point that you’re from another world, right? I’m just wondering how you’re holding up at this point.”

Andrew had to think about that for a moment. How was he holding up? He had given it some thought at one point or another, but he would always push it to the back of his mind. He knew thinking about it would only lead to negative thoughts, but it was only negative because of the ramifications of what this all meant. He was currently in another world with no idea how to get home. He didn’t know if time flowed the same here as it did back on earth, but if it did, that meant he had been gone for a month now. His family was no doubt worried sick for him, and the military would obviously consider him AWOL at this point. It wasn’t a fun thing to think about in any stretch of the word. But he felt that thinking and worrying about it wouldn’t do him any good. He would just need to do all he could later on to find out what he needed.

Turning his attention back to Sarya, Andrew shrugged his shoulders.

“Kinda so-so in that regard right now. Yeah, I might be worrying about a few things, but I seriously doubt I could do anything about it at the moment.”

The elven woman nodded her head at him in some understanding before she turned to look at the soup in her hands.

“I see… well, just remember. You don’t have to worry about things alone. If you can help it, you can always talk with your group if you need to… though you might want to get the bit with Serena out of the way as quickly as you can. The longer that goes on the tougher it gets to actually talk about it.”

Agreeing with that statement, Andrew chuckled a little.

“You got that right.”

Smiling, Sarya downed the last of her food before she quickly got to her feet.

“Well… that was all I really needed to talk with you about. If you don’t have anything you want or need to speak with me about, I’m going to go and see if Morgana can stomach the idea of eating right now.”

Laughing at the pun she made, Andrew shook his head at her.

“No. I’m good, thank you for coming to talk with me though.”

“Anytime.”

Was all she said before she walked away. Andrew, for his part, let out a low sigh as the troubles on his mind resurfaced. Deciding that he should distract himself from them, Andrew turned his attention to look at the crew and was surprised to see that they looked a little busy talking with each other.

Silque seemed to have Tannath’s attention while Fenella only seems to be half heartedly paying attention to the mermaid. Andrew looked at where the Selkie’s gaze was and was surprised to see that she was looking at Frida, the mershark standing off the starboard side of the boat with her face in the air, as if trying to smell something. Curious about this, Andrew finished up the last of his food before he stood up and made his way to the Mershark. He managed to get close to her before she seemed to notice him and turned around with a bright smile on her face.

“Hey Handsome. Did you enjoy the food?”

Andrew nodded with a small grin on his face.

“Yeah. It was pretty good. if you don’t mind my asking though… what are you doing?”

Looking at him with a contemplative stare for a few moments, Frida let a sigh out from her nose, the woman looking back out into the ocean.

“I’m smelling the ocean. Something about it smells off right now.”

Andrew looked out in the direction she was also facing, a puzzled expression on his face as he tried to look for anything unusual out on the waves.

“I’m surprised you can smell anything past the brine.”

The mershark chuckled smugly as she pointed at her nose.

“I might not look it, but my species has a very keen nose for certain scents. Its even better when I’m actually in the water, but even on land, I can smell a whole bunch of things. Like the fact that Silque’s pussy is practically radiating her desire to breed or that the woman down in the crew’s quarters just upchucked for the twelfth time today. Even more so that I can smell your scent down on Imh’ege in the bilge.”

Andrew only nodded despite having been called out for his sexual escapade.

“Impressive.”

“I know right? That’s why I’m trying to get a reading on this smell right now.”

Andrew again found his gaze looking to the ocean for a second before he turned his attention back to Frida, no less enlightened about the situation then he was before he looked.

“Well, if you don’t mind my asking, what does it smell like?”

“Blood. And a lot of it. But it’s not just that.”

Andrew had not been expecting that answer and was a little worried when she said it. But the fact that it was ‘more than just that’ didn’t leave him with a good feeling.

“Well, just the smell of blood is already worrying, but what else is there that would make you question it?”

Taking another sniff, Frida scrunched up her nose as if doing this would provide her with more details. Hell, maybe it would. Andrew wasn’t a mamono biologist.

“Two different kinds of blood. One smells… up top? Like it lives closer to the surface of the ocean. The other smells… deep, dank. Rancid even.”

Andrew couldn’t even begin to put an answer to what she was saying, but that didn’t stop him from asking the expert in front of him.

“What do you mean exactly?”

“Easy, the more disgusting smell is easy to identify. Its some kind of King Angler. A very ugly deep-sea monster with a massive mouth that takes up about half of its body. Me and Fenella have tangled with a few of them in the past and killed them. It’s pretty big, but you just got to know where to aim to kill them. The problem is the other smell. I don’t recognize it.”

It took him a moment, but Andrew was starting to piece an image together.

“Hum… this Angler thing. I take it that it’s really big? And if you smell the blood of two different beasts, then I can guess that they’ve been fighting.”

Frida only nodded her head at him.

“Yeah. That’s what I was thinking as well. Thing is, a King Angler is something most animals won’t deal with. It tastes terrible and it’s a hassle to hunt, plus, it’s about as big as this ship. People like me hunt it for sport and because the lure on its head is valuable to sell. Mages use them in alchemy and stuff. It’s got me a little worried is all.”

Andrew only looked out at the ocean, expecting to see supposed King Angler out on the horizon or something. However, he heard the sound of beating wings behind him and he quickly turned around to see that Tannath had taken off from the deck. Mystified by this, he watched her ascend on hidden currents of air rapidly, the Harpy quickly becoming a blur in the sky. Andrew turned to look at Frida to see what she thought about it, but he noticed that her usual smile was gone, a much more serious expression on her face. Andrew could instantly tell that something was wrong with the situation, especially when he heard Silque behind him say something.

“Frida, need me to go and get your Trident?”

The Mershark looked back at the young mermaid, a quick jerk of her head indicating her answer. Andrew watched the mermaid scamper off and into the kitchen, no doubt to go below deck to fetch said weapon.

“Hey handsome, you might want to go and get your party below deck. Me and the rest of the crew got a bad feeling about this, and I don’t want you to get caught up in it if it turns out to be bad news.”

Andrew only looked at her with a concerned expression on his face, the fact that the situation seemed to be deteriorating rapidly not doing him much good with his nerves. However, thoughts of his group gave him some ideas.

“Do you need some help? I’m sure I could get Unoma or Labareda to help you with it. They are noted to be very powerful spellcasters… or so they boast to me on a number of occasions.”

Frida only smirked at him before she rolled her shoulders and turned her attention back out to the ocean.

“Nah, we should be good. It’s the crew’s job to make sure you and yours stays safe after all. Besides, the captain is pretty good at magic herself, so much so that you might even find yourself surprised.”

Nodding at her, Andrew only smiled as well, the mershark’s positive attitude somewhat infectious. Folding his arms across his chest, Andrew huffed lightly.

“Alright then… I’ll believe that. Try to stay safe though.”

“Of course! Can’t get to your dick if I bust myself up now can I.”

Actually laughing at that one, Andrew waved the mershark goodbye as he turned around and began to make his way below deck, passing Silque as he did, the girl running past with a trident in her arms. Only somewhat curious about the weapon, Andrew only paid it little mind as he continued on, noticing that everyone who wasn’t a crew member had already made their way down before he did. Continuing on below deck, Andrew quickly made his way down the steps until he hit the second floor. Though he was about to make his way down the hall, he had to come to a stop when he heard something.

Curious about what it was he may have heard, Andrew stood still for a moment until her was able to hear someone talking. It was a familiar voice, and one he was able to pick up on quickly.

“That sounds like Imh’ege… who is she talking to?”

Turning himself to where he heard the voice, Andrew was able pinpoint that it was coming from the Bilge where she normally was. Deciding that his curiosity needed to be satiated, Andrew walked over to the steps and started to make his way downstairs. He was surprised when he saw that her door was wide open, but was even more curious when he heard her muttering almost non-stop. Peering into the room, Andrew saw that the inky darkness that was here originally was long gone, and the area looked like part of the ship now. However, his attention was more focused on Imh’ege and the way she seemed to be standing there and staring into space, her mouth moving rapidly as words seemed to spill out from her mouth. Andrew couldn’t hear it well enough, but opting to get closer allowed him the opportunity start to make out certain words.

“Splinter, rend, steam, crush, death, sink, time, devour, eat, boil, look, nothing, stand, lack-”

On and on, Imh’ege continued to spout a stream of words that didn’t seem to have any kind of coherent structure to them, leaving Andrew confused and maybe a little freaked out at the monotone she was delivering it all in. Not sure if he should disturb her, Andrew walked around to where she was facing to look at her, a little to afraid to call out to her in the current state she was in. When he saw her face to face though, he kinda wished he had called out instead.

What he saw when he looked her dead in the eye was unnatural and very disturbing. Unlike what normal Iris’s do, which is stay to a specific size and shape, Imh’ege’s own inner eyes seem to be expanding and contracting, the shapes even changing in ways that should not be normal and in ways that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. It was like watching a kaleidoscope, only on a person face as they seemed to ramble like a mad man. Still not sure what to make of all of this, Andrew actually jumped when Imh’ege actually seemed to shift her head, to look directly at him.

“Crush, negate, above, now, scald, violence, demon. Nobulax.”

Andrew blinked when she let those string of words out of her mouth, but before he could even think about it, the kraken girl closed her eyes, opening them a moment later. Only this time her eyes where back to normal (for the most part) with a confused look on her face. Not sure what the fuck just happened, Andrew prodded her with a question.

“Um… Imh’ege… you okay there?”

The girl only cocked her head to the side in some confusion before realization hit her.

“Am fine? Am Fine! Imh’ege sometimes dwells deep deep in Fathers eyes. See’s things, knows things? Knows things! Does not remember things though. Only flashes, only the dredges. Fathers eyes see so much, Imh’ege understands little. But helps? It helps!”

Andrew only nodded in some mock sense of understanding. Deciding that it would be best to try to put all that she said out of his mind for a moment, Andrew then prompted himself to ask another question that had been lingering in the back of his mind.

“Okay… now that we got that out of the way. Imh’ege, are you not going to join the rest of the crew on deck?”

The Kraken only shook her head at him.

“Up above? Up above! No no… Imh’ege only comes out when captain calls. Kanneth only calls when problem comes! Imh’ege stay in boat, all moist and cuddly… you come to cuddle?”

Andrew smiled sheepishly at her sudden eagerness, the memory of earlier obviously still fresh in the girl’s mind.

“Ah no… not this time… it would best if you remained active and not in the middle of something in the event you’re needed.”

Imh’ege seemed to think about that for a few more moments before it seemed to Andrew that she understood what he was talking about.

“No cuddle? No cuddle. Make sense, Imh’ege will wait patiently until time for more cuddles.”

Finding her manner rather adorable, Andrew couldn’t help but pat the girl on the head. Though with that he came to the realization that he should probably be on his way and out of here. Giving the kraken one more gentle head pat, Andrew made his way out of the bilge and back into the hall. However, his movement was slowed by his thoughts as he repeated over and over the series of words that deep sea dweller had been muttering and what kind of implication they might have. He wasn’t sure what exactly that had been all about, but Andrew was something of a believer in that everything had some kind of purpose. This odd incident was not outside of that spectrum, but at the same time, he couldn’t piece together anything of importance about it.

_‘That would be because those who have been touched by dark ones hardly ever make sense.’_

Jolting at the words and the sudden invasion into his mind, Andrew was surprised when he felt the presence of Leviathan there. Remaining flustered for only a few moments longer, Andrew quickly shook himself out of it and quizzically posed a question to the inner demon.

**_‘Dark one? What the hell is that supposed to be? Also, a little heads up before you come crawling into my head would be much appreciated.’_ **

The feeling of some annoyance followed by some sense of regret filled his mind a moment later.

_‘I apologize for my intrusion. However, there is no real way to inform you of my coming sadly, so you would be wise to start preparing for it in the future.’_

Andrew let his annoyance be known.

**_‘Ugh… fine. Anyway, answer my question. What’s a dark one?’_ **

For a moment, Andrew felt Leviathan seem to think about it, a deep pondering filling his mind before he felt that the demon was ready to explain.

_‘A dark one is something like… a foreign god of this world. Or more in this case, something that came from outside the world and now inhabits it. Lord Oda did combat with a number of them before he was sealed away, a number of them from this world being forced to bend to his power when he had managed to utterly devastate them. He forced them into servitude, but after his sealing, I am not sure what happened to them. Though I recall that those who had managed to escape him fled to the deepest parts of this world’s oceans.’_

Andrew nodded to himself, but realizing that it was meaningless since Leviathan could just feel his understanding, stopped doing it.

**_‘Alright, that explains what they are… but what does it have to do with Imh’ege?’_ **

_‘As I said, I can feel the corruption on her from one of the dark ones… however, now that I get a better feel for it, she seems less touched and more born from it… which in turn would make her a child of one. I vaguely recall the signature though… I think… ah yes. Į̸̯̭̫͎̮͓̬͋͒͆̅̇̆̉̄̚z̤̗̼̝͉̬̗̺̭͔̽̔̏͊̽̑͝'̨̢̯͍̺̥̺̽̌͂͊̊̔̈́̊̕͘͢͟ë͍͎͍́͒͐̄̐̒̅͘ͅͅd̶̨̫̹̭̰͓̙̞͓̄̔̌̊̋̕͜͠͠ṙ̡̮̦̺͉͕͍͚͌̎̕͟͟͝r͚̖̳̤̳͙̻̬̅̔́͊̎͐̓̽͂̀͢͢'̢̨̨̭̭̝̰̫̄̽̂̓͘͠k̸̢͚̱̣̳̰̦̮͑̇̀̆̈̅̇̚̚ř̷̟͉̙̘͇̣̭͚̳͇̋͛̍̈̈́ȩ̛̺̰̳̹̹̗͎̙̏̆͂͝͡l̵̨̛̖̰̫̠͓̀͊̎̂̒͘͞, that was his name.’_

Andrew felt a sharp and rapid pain shoot through his mind as he tried to comprehend a particular word that Leviathan projected. Though as he tried to go back and think on it, all he got was a growing headache.

**_‘Gah… fuck… what did you say? Whatever that word was I couldn’t… comprehend it or something.’_ **

For a moment, Andrew was simply met with silence. Though some growing feeling of understanding came from Leviathan.

_‘Ahhhh… I see. You cannot understand the tongue of chaos beasts. I apologize, ‘tis an oversight on my part. If I was to put it into the words of the common, his name would translate to something like “he who consumes the inner eyes” or something to that effect. But if you seek a name, many of his followers referred to him as Iz'edrr'krel. He was known for being able to see overlapping futures, though it did him little good when Oda destroyed him utterly… or so we had believed him destroyed. Clearly, he had evaded death, though I am not sure how. Anyway, the girl seems to be his child, and seems thus to carry tints of the madness of chaos in her. However, I get the feeling not all of it was inane rambling, her father known for seeing the future after all. Take it as you will young master.’_

Andrew nodded his head as he thought on it. If it was brought into that kind of light, then maybe a lot what she had been saying made some sense? Andrew couldn’t be sure since he was just now coming to that conclusion, but he felt that maybe he should think on it some more. However, his inner mind was still pervaded by the feeling of Leviathan still there.

**_‘Okay, so I guess it makes what she was doing make a little more sense, but I get the feeling that wasn’t the only reason you popped up.’_ **

****

_‘Correct young master. Though in actuality it is not I who wished to speak with you, but Grendel. However, he tells me that before he ordains to speak with you, he would like you to go to the deck of the ship. At that point I’ll let him speak with you.’_

Andrew, too curious to try to argue otherwise, complied with the request. Making his way back up to the deck, Andrew was curious to see that nobody save for the captain was left on the deck, The Hakutaku to focused out on the waves to notice Andrew having come back up on the deck. At that point, Andrew felt Leviathan slip away only to be filled with another presence. This one filled with more energy and bloodlust.

_‘So! You finally got your ass up and about eh?’_

Andrew let out a small huff, the demons tone indicating that it was somewhat mocking him. Pushing It to the side, Andrew replied flatly.

**_‘I suppose so. So, what in the fuck did you want me up here for? And it better be for a good reason. If you tell me you made me come up here because you wanted a taste of the sea breeze…’_ **

Andrew left the thought off at that, as if doing so would implicate some kind of retribution to the demon. However, Grendel only laughed at him before he answered him.

_‘Relax, I got s little something I want you to do here.’_

Andrew couldn’t help but let his curiosity come through on that one.

**_‘A little something?’_ **

_‘Think of it like a test. Kinda like a proving. See, I’m sure the crew has figured it out, but there’s something big and nasty on the way over here right now come to fuck with your crew. If left alone, it’ll destroy the boat… or it’ll try at any rate. I’m sure those bitches of yours won’t let it come to that though. But I will guarantee that some of the crew will die.’_

Feeling somewhat panicked at that, Andrew was about to say something, but Grendel beat him to it.

_‘Calmn your ass down. This test of mine, I want you to either kill or repel the thing coming. Simple enough right?’_

For a moment, Andrew didn’t say anything, but then it dawned on him what this demon was asking of him.

**_‘You want me to do_ ** **what _now?’_**

_‘Kill or repel the big bad monster come to fuck with the boat. Prove your strength to me in some way. I want to see you actually fight something for once. Test your power and all that.’_

Letting a small sigh escape his lips, Andrew could only comply with the request. Though he honestly didn’t feel like he should care, but at the same time, these demons did have some standards, and Andrew also could relate with them on some level. No point in working with an inept boss after all.

**_‘Fine… so just kill or repel it right? Sounds simple enough… in theory anyway, what the hell am I about to throw myself against anyway.’_ **

With a low chuckling in his mind, Grendel let off waves of dark satisfaction.

_‘Just ask that big titty cow Captain, I’m sure she knows already.’_

Andrew could only sigh once again at how this demon seemed to be making demands of him all of a sudden without any kind of prior knowledge, but he had mentally agreed to do it regardless, so he could only roll his shoulders and hope for the best. Making his way to Kanneth, Andrew only made it to a few feet behind her before the sounds of his steps caught her attention, causing her to turn around. She was somewhat confused when she saw him and opted to voice it.

“Andrew? What are you doing above deck? I had informed my crew to tell you all to go into the hold for safety.”

Andrew nodded at her as he walked up next to her and looked out into the water.

“They did. But uh… as I went down, I came across Imh’ege… mostly talking to herself… she was muttering a long string of words over and over again. I listened in on her and I sorta made sense of it. Due to that, I came back up here.”

He honestly felt that he could have come up with a much better excuse, but at the same time, it wasn’t a complete lie. Turning to look at the captain, he saw that she was in a state of deep thought before bringing her eyes level with his.

“So… she was doing one of her predictions again… I take it nothing you heard was good?”

Andrew shook his head.

“It was mostly a lot of words along the lines of ‘crush’, ‘death’, ‘scald’ and other such things. Though when she noticed I was in the room, it seemed to change up to something more positive. So I can only take it that my presence altered it in some way. I’m not one hundred percent certain about it though, so that’s why I came up here.”

The captain put a hand to her chin in some thought, the things Andrew said causing her mind to work much harder.

“Scald? That’s an interesting word to use…”

Obviously in some thought about it, Andrew opted to leave her to it for a moment as he focused back out into the ocean. However, Kanneths voice next to him caused him to look back at her.

“I wonder… I thank you for bringing this to me, but as a Very important person on this ship, it’s my job to see you safe and sound on this trip. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I would ask for your own safety to head back down.”

Andrew looked at her directly, feeling kinda conflicted about what it was he needed to do, and what it was that the captain wanted him to do. However, before he could argue the point further, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. That something caused him to turn to look and see a small shape rapidly swimming toward them. It was familiar to him, in both color and shape, causing him to light up in familiarity.

“Oh look, Silque is here.”

Turning her eyes to where he was looking, Kanneth saw aforementioned mermaid before she seemed to dive below the waters surface. However, the sound of water being shot up indicated what exactly she had done and the both of them took a few steps back as the body of the mermaid collided heavily with the deck of the ship a few moments later. The mermaid was out of breath, as if she had swum a whole marathon. Kanneth looked worried when she saw the girls face, desperately trying to catch her breath and looking quite terrified.

“Silque, your back! What’s wrong? What did you and the girls find?”

Andrew watched as the girl tried her best to get breath in her lungs, both her mouth and her gills working overtime to do that very function before she started to speak.

“Big! Really big! And dangerous! Never seen anything like it before! Was tearing the giant angler apart with its mouth!”

Kanneth, now getting worried, kneeled down and put her hands on the girl’s shoulders.

“What do you mean Silque?”

“I dunno captain! I’ve never seen anything like it before, Frida seemed to know though and told me to get back as quickly as I could! It looked like some kinda giant turtle! But not like one of the friendly ones! It looked like someone took a dragon and a turtle and mashed them together! With a big spiky shell, a really sharp serrated beak mouth, clawed fins, and a long spiky tail!”

At that, both Andrew and the captain stiffened up, Andrew being the first to speak up.

“That sounds like a fucking Dragon Turtle.”

Kanneth looked to Andrew as she got up, only nodding her head.

“I’m not surprised you know of it, though where I come from, they are generally referred to as Longgui… though in this case, it’s more then likely a corrupted one. I was not expecting something like this at all…”

Andrew only grimaced at her as he looked out into the ocean.

“You think it would be a good idea to call the crew back and go around or wait it out? It sounds like it’s eating.”

The captain only shook her head.

“If only it was that simple. No, it would be more likely that it’s taken up residence around here and has started to treat this area as a part of its territory. A corrupted version of this monster won’t let us get away, especially since it more then likely has already identified us as invading its territory.”

“So… what? What’s your plan to deal with it then?”

Kanneth looked to Silque before she looked back out into the water.

“I can only hope Frida and the rest are doing what they can at this point. Otherwise, we need to get Imh’ege out here now. Nobody but her is strong enough to deal with it as is. But we need to draw it here since she’s not the fastest swimmer around. Silque, try to get Tannaths attention out there and signal her to tell Frida and Fen to fall back to the boat.”

Silque nodded her head with a ‘yes captain’ before she spring-boarded herself back into the water and disappeared in a flash. Kanneth then looked to Andrew with a dead serious expression on her face.

“I need you to get back below deck to safety. But in the event the crew can’t deal with this… try to keep an ear out for a horn. That will be the single to abandon ship.”

Andrew only blinked a few times in some surprise before he spoke up.

“Abandon the ship?”

“Yes. The Longgui will only aim for the boat since it will perceive it as a large creature, it should ignore smaller boats like a lifeboat or a dingy.”

Andrew felt like arguing, but she put up her hand to stop him.

“Enough, I know you mean well, but I can’t risk the lives of my crew and passengers, end of story. Now please, start making your way below deck to inform everyone of what will need to be done.”

Without another word, the captain turned to make her way down below deck to get Imh’ege. Andrew only watched her vanish behind the door before he mentally turned inward.

**_‘You want me to fight a fucking giant turtle dragon?’_ **

_‘Dragon Turtle. Very big difference between the two. And yes, I want you to do something about it. Kinda weak for a first test, but it’ll do until something stronger shows up later on.’_

Andrew wasn’t sure if he could mentally show off rolling his eyes, but he felt that was the only thing that fit with what he said next.

**_‘Oh yes, let me go ahead and dive down into the ocean, swim around a giant monstrosity that obviously isn’t adapt at swimming, and beat the living shit out of a beast that can_ ** **fucking eat me whole _!!!’_**

_‘I sense heavy levels of sarcasm coming out of you.’_

Again, Andrew felt that he could only roll his eyes mentally at Grendel.

**_‘No shit! In case you didn’t notice, I can’t swim in the ocean and fight like this! I have like… what? Maybe ten minutes of ground fighting under my belt tops! That thing will fucking kill me if I go down there! That fucker has home field advantage over me!’_ **

With what felt like a scoff in his mind followed by irritation, Andrew felt Grendel speak up again.

_‘Well you’ll die if you keep that mentality up, your thinking in terms of pathetic humans. You have the fucking power of Oda Nobulax in your body. He could kill this level of threat with his eyes closed and simple slap of his tail.’_

**_‘Well good for him! I have neither tail nor years of battle experience to fall back on!’_ **

With a feeling of disapproval and even more irritation radiating from his mind, Andrew felt Grendel only sigh at him.

_‘Holy fuck, you bitch way to much for someone with godlike power. Just jump in the fucking water and I’ll give you a hint on what to do next okay?’_

Only letting a sigh of disinterest cross his mouth at this point, Andrew made his way to the side of the ship before he peered down over the edge, a sudden thought coming to mind.

**_‘Hey, genius. How the fuck am I supposed to get down from here without killing myself.’_ **

For a moment, nothing was said. However, that changed when he felt something behind him. Not sure what it was, Andrew turned his head around only to see a giant hand that was weirdly familiar to him appear from a black mist that was coming off of him. The next thing he heard internally was Grendel, and he sounded smug as fuck.

_‘Like this.’_

Next thing he knew, the hand swung back and open hand smacked him off the ship and about thirty yards out into the open ocean. Andrew would have complained that it would have hurt, but oddly enough, it didn’t. Well, not badly at any rate. However, he was furious and confused as hurtled through the air, until he hit the water. Then he tried to right himself enough to find the surface so he could get a breath of air. That being a lot easier then he thought it would be, Andrew swam as quickly as he could to get to the surface, breaking the wake with a massive inhale of air. It took him a few moments of sputtering and coughing, but he was eventually able to get to a point where he could drive his righteous fury at the demon.

**_‘You fucking dick! Are you trying to kill me?!’_ **

_‘I can’t kill you even if I wanted to.’_

**_‘Could have fooled me!’_ **

Despite the anger he felt at the rough treatment, Andrew was being pushed to much by the open water for him to stay on it for very long, his mind and body suddenly realizing that he was in the open water with what would amount to a giant and very lethal dragon turtle. However, as he started thinking about it and the inane request he had signed up for, Andrew started to ponder on another problem.

**_‘Alright… so despite the initial process to get down here… how the fuck am I supposed to breath underwater? Especially since I’ll need to be fighting this thing after all.’_ **

With what sounded like a knowing laugh in his mind, Andrew listened in when Grendel started talking to him again.

_‘That’s easy, just gotta circulate mana in a way to act as part of your respiratory system. Basically, turn mana into air for your body.’_

**_‘Sounds cool. How the fuck do I do it.’_ **

Despite the sarcasm in his mind, Andrew was only further annoyed when Grendel seemed to ignore the initial question.

_‘I ain’t got the patience to teach you that shit, so pay attention to this feeling I’m about to give you and you should be able to emulate it well enough on your own.’_

Not sure what he meant by that, Andrew was about to ask him for more details before he suddenly felt his body, more specifically his lungs, start to burn up for a moment. However, it quickly changed to an almost suffocating feeling, like his body was trying to suck in too much air. Oddly enough, this caused him to stop breathing, but it didn’t burn his lungs or anything. Andrew felt the pull of mana around his body, and he had to admit that Grendel was right. It actually felt very easy to do, especially with what little Unoma and Labareda had shown him.

**_‘Huh… this is easier then I thought.’_ **

_‘This is basic level shit. Anybody should be able to do this. Anyway, now onto the meat of the matter, cause let me tell you, you got about a minute tops before that beast is in range.’_

Suddenly remembering what it was he was pushed off the boat for in the first place, Andrew started to look around in hopes of catching sight of the thing. Grendel interrupted that search when he spoke up again.

_‘Alright… I said I would give you a hint on how to fight it didn’t I? Well shut your mouth and open your ears, cause here is a tip from your friendly contracted war beast! For this situation, it’s better to feel primal then to think about it.’_

Andrew physically blinked, his mind working over what he had just heard.

**_‘That sounds like some zen bullshit. Meaning, what the fuck does it even mean.’_ **

_‘Hey brat, that’s the only hint your getting out of me. Good, luck, and go wild!’_

With that little bit out of the way, Andrew felt the demon retract itself back into his mind, leaving his consciousness vacant.

“… fucking seriously?”

Was all he got out of his mouth before he was hit with a slightly high wave, causing him to sputter and spit out sea water. Now feeling even more frustrated at his situation, Andrew couldn’t help but mentally curse at the whole thing.

_‘God I must be losing my mind to have agreed to this… but fuck if I’m not gonna try.’_

Despite his misgivings of both what he was doing and his own mental health, Andrew could only resolve himself to get this done. Looking around for a moment, he realized that he probably should have asked the demon how to keep his eyes open underwater as well. Thinking on it for a moment, he realized that he could probably put some kind of protective coating over his eyes like how he was doing with making his lungs generate its own oxygen with his magic. He only had to think about it for a moment before he felt the same odd feeling on his eyes like what he was feeling with his lungs. With that out of the way, Andrew dove under the waves, surprised at the clarity of the water around him… though he couldn’t help but wonder if that was something he was doing or if it was the nature of the water. Putting it out of his mind, Andrew looked around him and saw something large off in the distance. It was steadily getting closer, and he quickly realized that that ‘something’ was steadily taking shape. That shape being in the form of the aforementioned dragon turtle.

It looked kinda like how one would imagen a dragon turtle to be, large as the boat he had ridden on, a head that looked like a cross between a snapping turtle and serpent, only with a crest that went well down its neck where it ended at the savage looking spike hook shell. Its front dorsal fins looked as if it had somewhat evolved into clawed appendages while still retaining mostly a shape of slippers, though the back legs looked like normal reptile legs with sharp looking talons on them. One of the odder-looking things on it was the long tail that ended with a bifurcated tip, though it still looked dangerous with the long-segmented spikes running along the whole top length.

Though he was somewhat terrified by the size, Andrew had to admit that it was an impressive specimen of its type. That admiration turned to fear when the thing beak mouth opened wide and shot out to snap down on… nothing from the looks of it, moving at a speed that shouldn’t have been possible for a creature its size. Andrew was willing to admit that he jumped pretty badly when it did that. Though his fear gave way to curiosity when he tried to puzzle why it did that. The answer came when he watched a little more closely and he saw a grayish blue streak zip past it’s face, a small line of red opening up under the creature’s eye as it did. Andrew quickly recognized the form as Frida, the mersharks body looking fishier from the waist down since the last time he saw her. Noticing another blur of sorts, Andrew looked over to see that Fenella was also swimming around it, using some kind of barbed harpoon to stab at the creatures more exposed flesh. He couldn’t help but notice that just like Frida, her lower body had also take on a different form, only it made her look more like a seal then a fish.

However, at most they where irritating it, a clear indication of its mood when it lashed out again with its unnatural speed. It missed again, but Andrew could see that the two girls where hardly doing anything to it, the creature more intent on something else then the two pests that hovered around its body. Andrew could only guess that it was aiming for the ship, taking a quick glance over his shoulder to see it a distance back, but directly in the sights and path of the turtle. Suddenly realizing that he had agreed to do something about this gargantuan size beast, Andrew couldn’t help but feel that he may be way in over his head on this bit.

**_‘I think I may have royally fucked myself on this one.’_ **

With that depressing thought in his head, Andrew found himself trying to shake it off. He then thought back to what Grendel had told him, the demon obviously having some faith in him to be able to do… something in this situation. Considering the hint given, Andrew tried to spend as much of his time analyzing it as he could before the monstrosity got any closer. It was better to feel primal rather then to think about it? Those words must have had some meaning, but at the same time, Andrew found that it didn’t make all that much sense. However, one of the words in that sentence couldn’t help but ring with him.

Primal.

The word itself was a derivative of primeval, an early stage of evolution. But what did that mean? To feel primal? Andrew could only think of it in terms of primal emotions. The basics of human evolution. Was there something there in that thought process he could use?

Then it seemed to hit him. A phrase that made total sense in relation with what Grendel had said.

Don’t think, feel.

Andrew couldn’t help but think it sounded ridiculous, a Jedi from a movie being the first time he had ever heard it. But… the fact that it made so much sense for him couldn’t be ignored.

**_‘Well… I guess… just gotta stop thinking about it._** ’

Only shaking his head to himself, Andrew did the one thing he felt he shouldn’t do in this kind of situation. Close his eyes and turn inward. Stop thinking and simply let instinct take over. Frankly he had never done something like it before, but he felt that now was as good a time as any… or else he would end up dead. Mentally… shutting himself off, Andrew started to shut his thoughts out, to stop thinking, only bringing himself to concentrate on the emotions currently broiling in his mind and body. Surprisingly, when he did so, it seemed to click with him naturally. As if his mind was willing to turn itself off for a moment. After that, he felt the raw emotions. The fear of beating eaten, the anger at being pushed into this situation, the regrets of letting people die if he didn’t do anything. It was all there… but he felt something deeper. He felt it past the raw emotion, something much further in his mind, almost as if it was an instinct. Oddly enough, it felt so tiny to him… but at the same time, Andrew knew deep in his body that this thing in him was perhaps the most dangerous thing of all. Deep in his soul, buried in his emotion, was an unusual feeling.

Andrew… pondered on it, feeling that this was the correct choice. Something in him saying this was the right way. That this was the key to his survival, that this would lead him to the correct choice. Andrew dug deeper until he felt himself to the point of touching it. After only a moment of hesitation, Andrew grasped it in hand.

And then the floodgate opened in him.

It was like a raw wave of fury mixed with fear, of euphoria mixed with deep lamentation, a swirling cocktail of everything that made him who he was, of all the things that made him _alive._ It overwhelmed him, engulfed him, drowned him in the very basis of himself. It was as if he felt more himself then ever before. He was losing out to himself, his mind slipping away to be filled with everything that was him. Before he lost it, he could hear a mix of several familiar voices in his mind, the voices of the demons he harbored. They radiated a sick joy at this, and only a small series of words could be heard over the din.

_‘Very good young master.’_

And that was all he knew as he lost himself.

Meanwhile, on the boat, and a few minutes before, Labareda and Unoma where looking agitated. The demonic familiar pacing up and down the length of the bed, her eyes either on the door, or looking at the floor when she would turn away from it. Unoma, for her part, was focused more on something not seen in the room, the woman seemingly drilling a hole into the air if it could be called that. The state of these two was, put mildly, on edge, and Serena could tell that the both of them where thinking about the fact that their master, Andrew, had yet to come back.

For her part, Serena was sitting on the bed wit Aruma sitting in her lap, the red head having taken to fiddling with the girl’s white wings and feathers as she had done for the last ten or so minutes. Thankfully Aruma didn’t mind it when she did, but the girl was also somewhat worried over the fact that Andrew wasn’t there. Serena could only let out a low sigh as she looked out over at the other two.

“Will you two relax? I’m sure he’ll be here any time now. Hell, maybe the captain wanted to say something to him about whats going on. We where kinda just told to hurry up and get off the deck.”

As she said, a few minutes ago as they had been eating, Fenella seemed to notice something and told them all to start heading back to their rooms. Lab had tried to question it, but the Selkie had not been willing to let her do so, and mostly forced them to leave. Oddly enough, Andrew had been talking with Frida, the mershark, about something but Serena hadn’t heard anything before they left. However, more then a few minutes had passed when they got down here, and the fact that he was still away had started to worry both of the familiars, and that in turn had started to make Aruma nervous as well. Serena was just a little agitated about the whole thing, but she wasn’t so small minded as to voice a complaint about it.

Labareda stopped pacing and looked to Serena, not agitated, but still somewhat level with her expression. 

“I’ll relax when he’s not taking his time. Master is prone to caution, but at the same time I fear that he may sometimes overestimate the protection we can provide to him as is. Our link isn’t strong enough yet to where I can just appear right next to him when the need should arise. Not only that, but he appears to have gone back up to the deck. Whatever for I cannot fathom, but I get a bad feeling about this all the same.”

Unoma, who had remained quiet throughout the exchange, decided to speak up.

“It doesn’t really matter does it? He’ll do as he wishes, and thus you and I need only do as is required of us. Though I will admit that-”

Whatever she was going to say was cut off as both her and Labareda stopped dead with what they where doing, the both of them turning in a particular direction with growing apprehension and terror on their faces.

“What in-”

Labareda didn’t give Unoma anymore time to speak.

“He’s off the boat! How the fuck did he get into open water that quickly!?”

Serena and Aruma only looked between the two familiars with rapidly growing concern. They didn’t get a chance to say anything though as the next moment, both familiars where already rapidly making their way for the door. Serena, also somewhat concerned about what had just happened, set Aruma off to the side and bolted right after them. Serena quickly followed the both of them down the hall, the two familiars pace frantic as they tried to get Andrew. Serena was having a hard time figuring something out as well. From what Labareda said, he apparently had managed to get himself out into the open water, something that was disastrous out here in the ocean. The whole way up. It wasn’t until they got to the deck and started to make their way for the railing that something seemed to happen. Serena felt it before she saw anything, like a deep writhing mass of oppression pushing down on her. She quickly recognized it to, it was the exact same feeling she got when they were outside of that room. The one where Andrew had been releasing that awful pressure. She almost fell to her knees, but it was manageable… but just barely. However, Serena watched as Unoma and Labareda had very different reactions from her own. Unlike her, both of them just _dropped_ to the ground, clutching at their skulls and curling up in balls in agony. Serena, becoming deeply concerned by this sudden scenario, ran over to the closer of the two, that being Unoma. Kneeling down next to the older woman, Serena looked down and saw the pained expression on her face, her hands clutching at the side of her head as if to apply pressure to the problem. Sadly, it didn’t seem to be doing anything, and the red head could only look on in worry, her hands up but not sure where to direct them due to lack of understanding what might be causing her so much pain.

“Hey! Hey! What’s going on! What’s happening to you two!?”

Unoma, past sheer agony and what might feel like someone digging her brain out from the inside, looked to the girl and tried to her best to communicate as she was. 

“M-Master… NGH! Somethings wrong with- AHHHHHHHHHHH!”

It was all she could get out before the pain was to severe for her to continue, the woman writhing on the ground as she continued to be mentally destroyed. Serena was now very worried, not only for Unoma and Labareda, but also for Andrew.

They both counted as his familiars after all, and the way it was explained to her, Andrew shared a mental link with the two. If the two of them where in such pain just from this link, then what in the world was going on with Andrew. She didn’t get much further then that when that oppressive feeling got even stronger, the water about thirty yards out seemingly exploding outward in surf and… something else? It looked like some kind of dark Miasma. That was all she managed to get though, as she practically collapsed next to Unoma, feeling as if she was being held down by an actual physical force.

Despite all of this, Serena couldn’t help but think on one thing as she tried to force herself back to her feet.

_‘I hope Andrew is okay.’_

Meanwhile, even further out into the ocean, Frida was trying to make sense of everything that was going on right now. The fact that a Dragon turtle of all things had been found in the area was bad enough, her and the rest of the crew having found it tearing a King Angler to pieces. The problem was when it had seemingly detected the boat and had opted to abandon its dead prey to go after another would be invader. She and Fenelle had told Silque to hurry back to inform the captain ahead of time, and they had tried to do everything they could to let Tannath know that she needed to go and find another ship or some kind of navy vessel. This thing had obviously been outside of their ability to handle, but they could at least try to hurt it enough to not be much of a fight, so both she and the selkie did everything they could to slow it down, to give everyone time to prepare while also doing as much damage as they could. Thankfully they could swim around it easily enough, and that it didn’t seem very fixated on them. But that in of itself was also a bad thing since they could at most do superficial damage to its body.

Just as they had begun to get in sight of the ship, Frida could smell the situation went from bad, to worse. She had smelled Andrew come into the water, not sure how or why he was down in the water. She would have gone back and tried to get him back onto the boat, but before she could inform Fenelle of her plan, that was when the dark writhing mass of energy sprouted up behind her.

Frida, in all of her years in service of the blissful tide, in all the time she had spent in her life seeing odd or unusual things, what she was feeling right now was something she had no inkling of. The feeling was powerful, far to powerful to be of a normal mortal, and even worse, it felt deadly beyond all else. Frida wanted to turn tail and run in the direction past the Dragon turtle, that oppressive and obscenely powerful energy far more dangerous to her then anything she had ever faced before. Even the turtle behind her had stopped in its tracks, suddenly very wary of something it now counted as a legitimate threat. Frida was stunned, the turtle however was not. Weather due to some instinctual pride of never seemingly encountering anything higher then it on the food chain or from something else, the beast only bellowed and dived forward at a speed unlike its earlier progress. However, Frida could only turn around and look at the beast, the poor mershark just now realizing that she was in its way.

More specifically, in the way of that massive fin. Her body was still frozen from the power behind her, but her mind quickly concluded that the moment that thing hit her at the speed it was going at, she would either be ripped apart if hit with a talon, or hit so hard that she would die on impact. Either way, she knew she wasn’t going to live.

_‘Ah… well… this fucking sucks. I would have liked to have gotten one more good fuck in before I go to Poseidon’s realm.’_

It perhaps wasn’t the most noble of final thoughts, but it was what she felt on the inside. Looking dead on as the fin began to makes its way to her body, Frida only prepared for it. It never happened though. Unlike what she was expecting, which was to be mercilessly killed, something behind her seemingly shot through the water and rammed the beast directly in the head, stopped it cold in the water. Frida would have thought about it, but the rapid displacement of all that water at high speed shot out around her and buffeted her out into an uncontrollable spiral, leaving her in the dark about what had just happened until she worked furiously to right herself and to stop her erratic motions through the turbulent undersea current.

After getting herself back in order, Frida looked back to see that the dragon turtle was halted, the creature thrashing in place, but held still by something attached to its head. Frida was hard pressed to get a good look at it, but she could faintly make out a humanoid shape about it. But it looked… odd. It was like a person, but a person covered in a shadow. Like a form fitting shadow, but still somewhat different. However, Frida didn’t have much more time to think about it as a moment latter, Fenella caught the mersharks attention as she rapidly closed the distance.

“Frida! Are you Alright?!”

Said mershark looked at her for a moment before she stretched her neck a few times.

“Sorta. Whatever that thing is kinda roughed me up a bit when it swam by, but not much else is wrong with me otherwise… by the way, what in the name of Poseidon is that thing anyway?”

Fenella only shook her head as she turned to look at it, the turtle still thrashing about.

“I’m not sure, but it’s radiating a malevolent energy like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It’s hard for me to stay as I am now, but thankfully it seems intent on the turtle itself. However, I don’t think we should stick around much longer for-“

Whatever she was going to say next was instantly cut off, the resounded noise of a very audible cracking sound causing the both of them to turn and look at the direction it came from, and what they saw they almost couldn’t comprehend. Where the sounds of a thrashing wild animal had been heard recently, was filled with nothing but silence. Now laying still and floating upward was the Dragon turtle, it’s head twisted at an ungodly angle, it’s mouth wide open in shock and it’s lifeless eyes retaining its last look of some surprise.

Between the both of them, the girls would be willing to admit that they had never seen anything be able to break the neck of such a massive creature. But that was what they where looking at. And the cause of that was currently just… floating there, looking like some kind of dark mass taking the vague form of a person. In that moment, both fighters realized that they had to get away from this thing, right now.

However, the moment either girl made a move, the black thing rounded on them, a pair of fiercely glowing white eyes staring at them. It was a horrifying look, but that was the least of their concerns right now. No, they now had its full attention, and the pressure that they where just barely keeping aside, had pretty much increased to an ungodly amount, the both of them feeling as if their own lungs had seized up, the gills on their bodies even coming to a halt. It felt as if the black specter of death was looking at them, and the very thread of their lives hung by weather it would come after them or not.

Fate would prove to not be so kind, as the moment Frida attempted to move by even a millimeter, the thing angled its head by almost ninty degrees and seemingly appear right in front of her. Frida would have jumped, she could have screamed, she might have tried to stab at it, but it had moved to fast for her body to even comprehend the fact that her death was a near foot away from her. But past that sudden lack of fear was some recognition, for at this distance, Frida could smell Andrews scent on this thing. But it only lasted for a moment, her mind only coming to that realization a moment before her body realized she was about to die. Fenella, who wasn’t being directly stared at, tried to move, but the thing grabbed her spear without even looking at her, the crunch of the weapon in her hand breaking Frida out of it. She tried to take a stab at it, the moment her spear moved, the head of the weapon vanished from sight, only for the mershark to see it floating downward into the deep ocean. But just as she was about to retaliate, to move, to try to do something, a sudden bright flash of light appeared around the creature, as if light had seemed into its outline.

A near moment later and the shadows vanished into nothing, leaving behind the form of Andrew, who only seemed to look at her with a dead look in his eyes before said eyes rolled into the back of his skull and he passed out right there. Moving out of subconscious movement, Frida took hold of the unconscious male, still utterly surprised by what had just transpired in the span of what had been no more then a few minutes at most. Fenelle looked to Frida, the mershark only looking back with an equally dumbfounded look on her face. The both of them wordlessly looking to each other with the same thought in their heads.

‘What in the fuck just happened.’

Xx a few minutes prior, just as Andrew had lost his mind. xX

The pain was almost unbearable to Unoma, this sudden explosion of power and almost destructive mental hammering having long driven her to the ground as she did everything she could to preserve her sanity and spirit. She easily recognized this power, this same feeling of dark malevolence only ever having come from one entity in the entire history of the world. And she currently shared a familiar bond with the man who was unloading this unholy power outward. Thankfully she had access to what many considered to be ‘ultimate magic’, the poor woman knowing she would be long dead if she didn’t have access to it right at this very moment. She wasn’t sure how Labareda might be feeling right now, the familiar having high resistance to mental attacks, but even Unoma would be willing to bet that the familiar was feeling sheer agony. However, the Dark Mages current concern was with herself and her attempt at trying to save her mind.

But she knew it would be useless, this mental erosion far to fast and for her to do anything about by herself except maybe spare her from a quick death. Unoma had no illusion that she would survive, but she couldn’t help but feel regret at the fact that her master would probably die due to this. However, as she continued to think, she began to notice that… something was off. For starters, the mental attack was lessening, which was odd in of itself. But what was more interesting was that it seemed to receding from her, only to be replaced with an unusual energy in her mind and body. Finally having some clarity to even see in front of her, Unoma was confused when she saw Aruma kneeling next to her, the girl’s hands on the woman’s body and divine energy being poured into her. It took her a few more moments of this before she quickly remembered to check on her path holder.

Mentally focusing in on him, she was amazed to see that Aruma’s power was not only working on herself, but also affecting others connected in this link, Labareda and Andrew feeling as if they where quickly calming down.

Unoma, feeling better despite a moment ago, tried to sit up, but Aruma quickly stopped her.

“No! Don’t move yet… I’m trying to suppress that evil energy from Andrew through you and your familiar bond.”

Unoma wasn’t sure what she had just heard until she played it over in her rapidly clearing mind. It wasn’t until a moment later that she began to understand that Aruma was pushing energy back through a closed mental link from sheer power and effort alone, something that was obviously putting strain on the girl if she was looking at her correctly. Reaching her hand out, Unoma took the girls smaller hand in her own.

“If you want in, it would be better to ask, no?”

Without another word, Unoma mentally pulled the small girls mind in with her, allowing Aruma full access to work her magic. The effect was immediate in that the mental pollution was rapidly dissipated, allowing Unoma to breath easier and to finally get her bearings. The first thing she did upon getting cleared up was to check on Andrew, the mage becoming quite relaxed when she felt his mind whole and sound, if not unconscious. She might have been bothered to try to check the mental state of her fellow ‘familiar’ but the sounds of groaning followed by some low cursing gave her an indication to that. Feeling that her mind along with the rest of the empathetic link had been cleared up, Unoma let go of Aruma and let the girl breath out a sigh of relief, though she began to tilt in exhaustion. Unoma made to catch her, but Serena, who had been standing behind her it would seem, quickly reached out and caught her. Out of danger of falling to the hard deck, The Dark Mage looked more closely at the girl and saw that she was unconscious. Not only that, but Unoma could feel that her energy was weaker then before, this ordeal having taxed her greatly.

“Hey, is she gonna be okay?”

A little shocked by the sudden voice, Unoma looked up to see that Serena had asked that question, the girl looking worried. Before the silver haired mage could answer though, the sound of Labareda cursing caused the both of them to look behind them to see the demon getting up off the deck.

“She’ll be fine. She just used a lot of what was left of her energy after all. It’ll be a while before she wakes up though, so I would suggest you get her down into the hold and put her in a bed. Serena, I would suggest you do that seeing as myself and Unoma are still… recovering.”

Only looking between the two of them with some skepticism on her face, Serena complied anyway.

“Alright. I’ll take her down and put her in bed. But you two need to keep an eye out for Andrew Alright?”

Labareda only waved her paw at her.

“I would have done that without you even saying anything.”

Not going to say anything more to the familiar, Serena only picked up Aruma and made her way back down into the ship, leaving the two familiars to watch her until she vanished below deck. The moment she was out of sight though, the both of them turned to each other with knowing looks on their faces, Unoma being the first to say anything.

“He’s alive as far as I can tell, but I’m worried about if he’s sinking or floating.”

“Floating. I think one of the crew has him and is bringing him to the ship. However, our bigger concern should be about what just happened.”

Unoma nodded as she turned back out in the direction of the ocean.

“Yes… I fear he must have attempted to access something in his power or perhaps even the power of one of Odas familiars. We can see the result of what happened with that.”

Labareda only nodded in answer.

“Very true. I think we’ve been a little to withholding in regards to Masters power and what it can do. I fear that if he is in contact with Oda’s familiars, they might be trying to spur him to use more. We might need to do more in regards to training him. Or at least informing him about it. I’m afraid of what might happen if we continue with our lack of diligence on the matter.”

Unoma only nodded, the both of them turning there attention to where they knew Andrew was coming from, not looking forward to see what state he might be in, but also in part of what they would need to do from now on in regards to their beloved master.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Andrew woke with a start, his mind suddenly racing as it tried it’s best to keep up with what was currently going on in relation to what had been happening before he had passed out. It took him little to no time to recall what had happened before he passed out, but it took him a little more time to figure out where he was exactly. Thankfully the familiar feeling of softness and the creaking of wood jogged his memory to the point that he knew he was back in his bed on the blissful tide. Even the arrangement of individuals around him was much the same way with Labareda and Unoma in front and Aruma behind him. However, the sound of clinking armor caused him to look around the room to see that Serena had stood up from one of the sofas, the twin tail looking in his general direction with a look of some worry followed by one of relief when she saw him looking at her.

“Well well well. Look who finally decided to wake up. You feeling okay?”

Working himself to an upright position only to be greeted with a headache the likes of which would have split a mountain, Andrew opted to stay down for a bit as he answered through some clenched teeth.

“Alright? I think? I’m not sure… I feel like my body has been through some shit and this headache is nothing like I have ever felt in my entire life… but at least I’m alive.”

Serena only nodded at him before she walked over next to the bed and looked down at him.

“Small blessings I suppose. You should thank Aruma for that. She did… something with Unoma there and it seemed to fix whatever was happening with you. I think it really drained her too from what the two of them told me.”

Andrew looked to the red head for a moment before he looked to Aruma behind him, the small girl looking content in her sleep, a small smile creeping into his features looking at her. Feeling a small bout of curiosity about it, Andrew opted to hold off on asking until everyone was awake and rested.

“I see… I’ll keep it in mind then… by the way, how long have I been out for?”

At that, Serena thought about it for a moment before she did a little calculation in her head.

“I think… a few hours at most. The sun was starting to go down when I came down here a little while ago. We haven’t moved though since the crew wanted to grab the giant turtle thing. They said it would slow us down by a day and a half, but the payout would be worth it… or so I was told by the captain. Other than that, I’ve kinda just been wandering the boat until Lab and Unoma went to sleep. Then I kinda just stayed down here. Oh, Jonathan and Sarya both came by to see how you were doing.”

Andrew nodded at her before he looked down at himself and dared to risk pulling himself up into a sitting position. Though it caused his headache to flare up, he was still able to push past it. Taking a low breath to steady himself, Andrew looked back at her and responded.

“I see. I’ll have to go and let them know I’m doing alright now that I’m up… as soon as this headache goes away…”

“Fair enough.” Was her only response. A few minutes of silence followed after that, the both of them seemingly deep in thought, though Serena was feeling a little awkward about it since the silence and being alone with Andrew caused her to remember what happened in the shower. This in turn caused a blush to begin to form on her face, the girl trying her best to look at anything but Andrew at the moment. Andrew however was a little more mentally invested in something else, that something else being him trying to get the attention of the demons in his employ.

**‘Oi! Are you fucks awake? I need to have a god damned word with you! More specifically, You Grendal! Get your ass out here!’**

However, try as he might, he couldn’t get any kind of reaction out of anything, and it just felt like he was mentally screaming at nothing. Andrew continued to do this for a few more minutes before he finally gave up, the mental exertion taxing him more then he thought. Letting out a low sigh, Andrew could only fume at this development. However, this action caught Serena’s attention, causing the girl to look at him curiously.

“Everything okay there?”

Caught a little unaware with the sudden question, Andrew blankly looked at Serena for a moment before the question processed in his head, causing him to shrug his shoulders.

“For the most part. My head is killing me though. I think I may have pushed myself a little too hard.

Serena, getting a little tired of standing, opted to sit down at the edge of the bed.

“I see… if you don’t mind my asking, what exactly did you do? All I know is that you had apparently gotten into the ocean, and then something happened down there. After that, Lab and Unoma dropped to the deck in pain and couldn’t do anything until Aruma showed up and did… whatever it was she did to help you guys.”

For a moment, Andrew could only look at Serena in some confusion. His mind managed to process what she said though, and he spoke up in some confusion and fear.

“…Unoma and Lab were in pain? Why?”

Serena only shook her head at him.

“Do I look like I know? Those two are the magical experts, not me. All I know is that it had something to do with you, so that’s why I’m asking you what happened.”

However, Andrew was unsure of how to answer, this information mentally upsetting anything else he might have thought of. Having turned away from the somewhat confused Serena, Andrew looked down at himself in thought, his mind running itself around in circles about what he had just learned.

**‘They where hurt? How? What ended up happening after I… did whatever I did? I need more information, but Serena and the rest didn’t see me after I went into the water, so they wouldn’t exactly know… maybe some of the rest of the crew saw me? Maybe they would know. I need to find out though.’**

Coming to a quick mental decision, Andrew nodded to himself before let out a low and concentrated breath of air.

“Alright then… Serena?”

A little startled by his sudden shift from deeply thinking to looking at her, the girl faltered in her response for a moment.

“Uh… y-yeah?”

“Do you happen to know where Frida or Fenella are at right now?”

Serena was still a little confused by what he said, but it quickly clicked into place before she answered him.

“Uh… I think on the deck or in the crew quarters. Might wanna check the deck first though.”

Nodding to her in thanks, Andrew began to work his way out of the bed carefully so as not to disturb the rest of the party. Thankfully his headache had subsided enough for him not to feel pain every time he moved, so it had been a simple task to get out of bed and on his feet. However, before he could start making his way for the door, the sound of Serena’s voice stopped him.

“Hold up, are you about to head out?”

Turning around, Andrew nodded at her.

“Yeah, that would be correct.”

“Uh, hello? You just woke up from some kind of magic coma thing. You really shouldn’t be walking around already.”

Andrew shrugged his shoulders at her, knowing that her words where right, but not really feeling as bad as when he had just woken up.

“I should be fine.”

“Should be is not a guarantee of any sort you dummy. Seriously, get back to bed and wait for the rest of them to wake up.”

Serena stood up and walked up to him in a show of trying to put him back to bed. However, when she got close, she was reminded that Andrew was a whole head taller then her, and she also recalled that he was also magically enhanced, making him stronger then her as well. However, she only let it deter her for a moment before she put her hands on his chest in an effort get him back in bed. However, Andrew wasn’t having any of it, though he was rather polite about it.

“No, I’m fine. Really. I might have a slight headache now, but it’s not that bad. I think finding one of the crew would be more important right now seeing as I need to figure some stuff out about what happened.”

Serena only looked up at him with a scanning gaze, her mind telling her that he really needed to get back to bed and rest up. However, the look in his eyes told her that he probably was going to do whatever it is that he wanted, her permission not being any kind of chain to keep him here. Letting out a low sigh, the twintail backed off from him and replaced her hands to her hips.

“Fine. If you have to go, then thats fine. But I’ll be going with you just in case okay? The moment you collapse or show any signs of pain and I’ll drag you right back here, got it?”

Andrew nodded at her, the request sounding reasonable.

“I’m good with that.”

“Good, glad we got that out of the way.”

She said matter of fact-ly. Andrew only chuckled to himself for a moment before he began making his way for the door, though the sound of Serena’s voice behind him caused him to stop.

“Should we leave a note for the rest of them in the event they wake up?”

Andrew turned his attention back to her before he drew his attention to the sleeping trio in the bed. It was a good suggestion, and seeing as it wouldn’t hurt to do so, Andrew went to his military clothing and pulled out a small notebook along with a pen and wrote something. He then put it in a place that would be easy to see and nodded back to Serena in confirmation.

“I think that should do it. Let’s go see if we can find any one of the crew members.”

Nodding to him in confirmation, Serena followed after him as he passed through the door and into the interior of the ship. The both of them began making there way to the stairs up to the deck. As they got halfway down the hall though, the both of them saw one of the side doors open up to reveal Sarya making her way out of the room. The elf, who had not been paying much attention as she left, turned to see the both of them, eliciting a small look followed by some recognition. That quickly gave way to a large grin on her face as she waved at the both of them.

“Hey you two! Good to see you both up and about! Especially you big guy!”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out who the big guy was in this situation, thus Andrew smiled at her in return.

“Hey Sarya. I’m also glad to be up and amongst the conscious.”

“Good thing, was afraid you had kicked the bucket there for a bit with the way Morgana had been talking about you.”

Curious about this sudden bit of info, Andrew turned to look at where Sarya had come out of.

“Did she? Is she aware of what had happened to me?”

Sarya shrugged her shoulders at him.

“I think she knows what happened, but she didn’t explain it very well.”

Andrew nodded at her before he looked back at the doorway.

“Is she good to talk right now? I kinda wanted to ask someone about what had happened. My memories cut out after a certain point, so I don’t have a full idea of what had happened.”

“She’s good for a bit, but she isn’t down here. She went to talk with the captain about it. That was about an hour ago or so, so she might be on her way back to rest up… or she might be heaving off the side of the deck. No idea, but maybe you can catch her on the way up.”

“I see… thanks for the telling me Sarya.”

The elf smiled at him as she waved.

“No problem big guy. Just glad to see your okay… Oh, by the way… I know it hasn’t been that long since I told you… but did you happen to do that thing I told you about yet?”

Andrew noticed the elf’s gaze wander to his side, forcing him to look in that direction to see Serena, who had been listening to the two of them intently. It quickly dawned on him what she was talking about and he quickly shook his head.

“Ah… not yet actually…”

Sarya gave him something of a chastising look before she sighed.

“Well… it’s understandable given what had happened, but like I said earlier, don’t put it off for very long.”

Serena, who had no idea what either one was on about, only looked between the two of them in a confused manner. Andrew nodded at Sarya in answer.

“Got it. It won’t slip my mind again.”

With a nod of her head, Sarya smiled at him again before she moved out of his way.

“Alright then, I’ll catch you guys in a little bit. Oh yeah, Serena, if you wanna hang out when you get done, I’m free to do so later on.”

Serena smiled at her elven friend as she walked past.

“Thanks, I might do that after I make sure this guy doesn’t do anything else stupid.”

Andrew could only chuckle at the statement, not really able to refute Serena given his current track record.

“Well, if that’s all, then I think we need to be on our way. I got questions that need answers and, no offense to you Sarya, I won’t find them here.”

Sarya smiled and waved at him as he walked past, the duo doing the same. With a more defined destination in mind, Andrew had an idea of who he might need to speak with. Making his way up the stairs (and only offering a cursory glance at Imh’ege’s door) Andrew wasn’t very surprised when he saw that nobody was in the kitchen area. He could still smell the remnants of dinner though; the cooked food having lingered in the area. Though that was secondary to the idea of him getting what he needed. A moment later, and Andrew and Serena where out on the deck, the sun having dipped to just above the horizon, rays of light casting a deep reddish orange color across the water. Andrew had to stop and take it in for a moment, the sight dazzling in its own right. Serena was also in awe of the beauty of it, though it didn’t hold her attention as much as it did Andrew. Which is why she was able to notice the deck before he did, thus allowing her to see who all was out here.

“Oh, hey Jonathan.”

Andrew, having been shaken out of his sunset inspired gaze, turned to see that Jonathan was indeed out on the deck. However, he was not alone, and seemed to have been in the middle of helping haul what looked to be some kind of meat chunk from up the side of the boat. The rest of those with him where Fenella, Frida, and Silque. Tannath was also on the deck, but she had been looking out into the water, her eyes on the corpse of the giant turtle dragon currently roped onto the boat. Serena’s call caught everyone’s attention though, causing them all to look and see them both having come out from the kitchen. Jonathan was the first to respond, a smile on his face while his hand came up to wave at them.

“Ser Andrew, Lady Serena. Good to see you both! Though I am very happy to see you up and about Ser Andrew.”

Andrew couldn’t help but smile back at the man, his hand coming up in a small wave of his own.

“Likewise Jonathan.”

Making there way closer to the group, Andrew couldn’t help but notice that each of the crew members had varying looks on their faces. Both Frida and Fenella looking somewhat wary, but trying to hide that behind some smiles. Silque looked genuinely happy to see him up and about, though her looking at the other two members of her party with some annoyance on her face detracted from that a bit. Tannath looked… well… she looked about as bored as usual, but she did seem to have a small smile hidden behind her bored expression. All in all, a mixed bag in regards to him in particular, while told him some things about who it was he might need to talk to right now. However, his attention was on that large slab of meat they had hauled up onto the deck, and thus he had to ask the question now on his mind.

“So… couldn’t help but notice… what the heck is that supposed to be and what are you guys doing with it?”

Jonathan, wiping the sweat from his brow, looked to the meat next to him before he got the gist of what it was Andrew was asking. However, Frida beat him to it.

“Easy, we wanted to get a bite out of the bastard that was gonna try to rip our ship apart. Not only that, but a Dragon Turtle’s meat is said to taste delicious!”

Fenella nodded her head in agreement while her eyes where scanning the acquired foods with some expectancy and joy. Andrew could only take it that as a cook, she obviously wanted to take a crack at cooking it. She looked back to him and smiled at him.

“Very true… but it’s also said that any kind of dragon meat is said to have powerful magical abilities, healing being amongst them… so we where hoping that it might heal you up in the event you didn’t wake up any sooner… or something like that…”

She somewhat petered off, but Andrew smiled at her and the concern the crew seemed to show. However, Silque running up and almost hug tackling him forced him to look down at the mermaid, aforementioned girl looking up at him with a bright smile on her face.

“Yeah! Everyone from your team was getting worried! I was too of course, but now that your up and about, I’m sure your better! Now you can eat something to boost your strength, and if the rumors are true, eating that meat will boost the sex drive of any male eight-fold!”

“Ah… I see… glad to see you keep your priorities straight Silque.”

Andrew couldn’t help but laugh a little at her remarks, even more so when he saw some of the crew sheepishly look at him. Only letting out a small sigh, Andrew simply pat the girl on her head before he detached himself from the mermaid.

“Well… maybe I’ll eat some later, for now, I’m kinda curious about what exactly happened. After I got into the water I kinda just… blacked out. Anybody mind filling me in on the details?”

At that, Andrew noticed that Frida and Fenella looked to each other with nervous expressions on their faces. Tannath only shook her head at him, as if to stall for the other two.

“Dunno really, I didn’t see you go into the water, my attention on trying to find some navy vessel, but holy shit did I feel your energy. It felt like you where right next to me when it went out. Thankfully it didn’t last very long, else I was afraid I would have dropped into the sea due to mana sensory overload. By the time I got back, the Dragon turtle was already dead and Frida had told me you where the one to kill it.”

Andrew was somewhat shocked by that, but he had the feeling that had been the case. Andrew looked to the mershark, a questioning look in his eyes.

“So… I was the one to kill the thing? If you don’t mind my asking… how exactly.”

Frida, who had been nervous before, looked really uncomfortable right now as she tried not to look at him.

“Um… ah… well… you… well… you swam up to it and snapped its neck like an overly rotten and wet piece of driftwood.”

At that, Andrew had to blink in utter surprise, an expression shared by both Jonathan and Serena, the both of them then turning to look at Andrew in equal amounts of shock.

“I… snapped its neck?”

“Yeah. Just like this.”

Frida put her hands up to her head and imitated a twisting motion with her hands and neck. However, Fenella opted to speak up.

“I get the feeling your looking for a little more information then that though. To elaborate a bit on what she said, after you dropped into the water, you seemed to stay there for a moment or two before an ungodly amount of energy came from you. You looked to be wreathed in pure energy… or dark magic. All that we could really use to define you in it all was that your silhouette was the same. But your eyes where pure white, and your appearance seemed to… shift at times, as if to take on a more… demonic form. Other then that, I couldn’t tell you anymore seeing as I’m not sure what exactly it is you did. I think the mage, Morgana I think her name was, knows more about it then we do.”

Frida nodded her head while Jonathan spoke up next in agreement.

“Yes, Morgana said something about it and that she needed to speak with the captain about it. She should still be in the captain quarters if you wanted to speak with her though.”

Andrew, all this information leaving him somewhat at a loss of words, nodded slowly at Jonathan in answer. Everything they said didn’t sound real to him, but at the same time, they would have no reason to lie about the events. Which made what he heard even worse to him. However, this only further pushed him to get answers, and seeing as Morgana seemed to hold them, he looked behind him to see the captain’s door across the deck. Turning himself back around, he smiled at the crew and Jonathan.

“Thanks for the info. Though I hate to run just when we where getting into some conversation, I’m afraid that I kinda want some answers right now. Again, thanks though, and good luck with… Uh… harvesting I guess?”

Jonathan nodded at him as he turned back around and got to detaching the ropes from the meat slab. However, the feeling of another tackle hug around his middle informed him of Silque’s general location.

“M’kay! I was kinda hoping you would keep on your promise, but I guess you need some food and rest first! Maybe tomorrow… or later tonight if you’re feeling up to it!”

Though she sounded innocent and cheerful about it, it was hard for Andrew to imagine that she was talking about sex right now. Though he had to admit that he sorta was looking forward to it. Waving one last time at the crew, Andrew then turned back around and began making his way toward the captain’s door across the deck. However, he couldn’t help but notice the stare coming from Serena as she walked next to him. It didn’t seem to have any kind of deep emotion to it, but Andrew couldn’t help but feel that she might be a little annoyed. Feeling the need to point it out, though he had a feeling it had something to do with him, Andrew did just that.

“Something on your mind? You seem to be giving me a real heated gaze.”

Serena, almost as if she hadn’t been aware of her staring, blinked a few times before she turned away, a little red in the face, but now looking a little annoyed.

“Not really. I just find it amazing that you have the time to sleep with so many women with impunity. More so that they all seem so okay with it.”

Andrew mentally found himself thinking to what Sarya had said before about Serena coming to like him, though she wasn’t aware of it herself. Thus, he couldn’t help but find it kinda cute that she seemed to be jealous. Though it brought back to mind about the reasons for all of this in the first place, something he found that he would need to talk about with her as soon as he could.

“I see… well, this world is different from the one you or I inhabit, so I think that it might be the norm around here. But I guess it is kinda hard to let such mentalities go. Though truth be told, I was never one to sleep around like I do now… I find it kinda odd now that I think about it, but at the same time, a lot of things have been odd with me lately… though I guess the same could be said of you as well Serena.”

Not sure exactly what he was getting at, the red head looked at him curiously.

“What do you mean?”

Now it was Andrews turn to blush somewhat.

“Well… I know you from legends and whatnot… and as far as I recall… you didn’t come of quite so… promiscuous in them.”

Serena, due to no fault of her own, had no idea what that word even meant, and thus she could only look at him curiously.

“Promiscuous? What’s that mean?”

“Uh… maybe that’s not the right word… you weren’t quite so… eh… lewd? Horny? Nothing in your legends indicated as such, and I never would have taken you for liking other women.”

Now the girl was deep red in the face, her mouth stammering to get some words out.

“I-I-I am no such thing! And what difference does it make to you if I happen to like other women!?”

Andrew only shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, its not like its any of my business, but I would think that after what happened in the shower earlier-”

She quickly cut him off right there, her mouth yammering something unintelligible while she waved her arms in the air as if to stop him from talking.

“Ay Ay Ay! Stop! Don’t talk about it!”

Only grinning at her due to the embarrassment he had managed to put her through, Andrew decided to do just that.

“Alright…”

However, the mirth fell away from his face when he mentally decided to get what was coming next out of the way.

“Anyway… do you mind if we talked privately later on Serena? Just you and me?”

The red head blinked a few times before the words set in, her mind suddenly racing about what this might be about or what it might be indicating. However, she did a good job of not letting it show through as she more steadily responded to him.

“Eh? Um… sure. I should be good for that… but what for?”

Andrew somewhat hesitated for a moment, not sure if outright saying the reason for it would be a good way to start this off, so he opted to go with a less defined answer.

“It’s for something important. Something between you and me actually.”

For a second, Serena looked at him before her mind began racing, the thought of anything really scary or serious not really entering her mind.

Andrew thought that sounded vague enough to count as being serious, though when he saw the blush and look on Serena’s face, he felt that maybe he may have simply caused a misunderstanding instead. Only internally sighing to himself, he could only hope that he could resolve it when they got the chance to talk. Finally having made their way to the captain’s door, the both of them came to a halt as they inspected it. Serena, having worked her way out of her mental scape of misunderstanding, opted to point out the first thing she saw about the door.

“So… if it doesn’t have a handle… how do we get in? Just magic it open or something?”

Andrew, who was thinking that very thought, only scrunched his brow in thought.

“Yeah… that’s the case… only problem is that I don’t know how to… Ah… ‘magic’ it open like you said. I only saw the captain do it once, and I’m not well versed in magic to begin with…”

Serena looked at Andrew for a moment, his words ringing true before she simply shrugged her shoulders and did the next best thing in this situation. She walked up to the door and knocked on it loudly so that it would not escape the attention of any individuals behind it. Andrew nodded at how she handled that and instead looked to the door to wait for a response. Thankfully they got one a moment later, though it was something they hadn’t been expecting.

A sudden image of the captain’s face appeared in front of the door, the captains face looking somewhat perplexed for a moment as she responded.

“Hello? Who is… oh!”

Upon seeing who it was, her expression changed to one of surprise followed by a somewhat bewildered smile.

“Well well Well, speak of the demon and he will come. Good to see you up and about Andrew, it’s also nice to see you as well Serena. Truth be told, we were just talking about you… well, we’ve actually been talking about you for an hour now. Please come in, the door should be open at this point. I wanted to speak with you about something important.”

Not sure if this thing was two-way, Andrew opted to nod at her as the image vanished. Hearing the sound of something clicking, no doubt the door coming unlocked, Andrew put his hand out and opened said door easily enough. What greeted him when he did open the door though was the assuring sounds of someone heaving their guts out along with the very disturbing sound of something wet and chunky coming into contact with a container of some sort. Andrew along with Serena couldn’t hide the looks of discomfort on their faces at the noise, though truth be told, they couldn’t fault the source.

Morgana, who was currently kneeling next to a large wooden bucket with her face hanging over the edge, was the source of said sound right now. Captain Kanneth, who was kneeling next to her, had her hand on her back as if to try to ease her body with a pitying smile on her face. However, she turned to look at the two that had just come in and smiled more brightly.

“Please, come on in and have a seat. Dear Morgana here just happened to have a very rough batch of seasickness, so please forgive the current display. And she was fighting it off so well too…”

Andrew Turned to Serena, the girl looking somewhat uncomfortable about the whole thing, but they both decided to go inside. They did just that, and they both found what seats they could with Andrew taking the one in front of the table while Serena found a comfy looking plush chair. Kanneth, pleased to see them both, turned her attention back to the heaving woman next to her and started to rub her back again. However, Andrew was quick to note that her hand seemed to be glowing with energy. He was sure it was magic of some sort, but he didn’t have the proficiency to know exactly what it was she was doing. Though if he was to hazard a guess, it was some kind of healing magic if the rapid decline of Morgana’s heaving was anything to go by. After waiting another minute or two, the mage woman finally was able to get her stomach under control, though when she looked up she certainly didn’t look that well. However, Andrew and Serena didn’t opt to say anything on the matter and simply let Kanneth take care of her for the next minute. After a little more time had passed, Morgana finally didn’t look like death had a hold of her and she was sitting in a chair across from Andrew, Kanneth on one side and the bucket not to far away.

Andrew was the first to initiate conversation by clearing his throat.

“So…ah… feeling good enough to talk for a bit?”

Morgana gave him a cross look, but she opted to keep it at just that.

“Hardly, but this is too important for me to just sit down with my face in a bucket.”

Andrew nodded in agreement with that.

“Agreed… so… what can you tell me about what happened earlier? I don’t have any memory of it, and what I managed to gather from Frida and Fenella only gave me a partial picture.”

Morgana eyed him for a moment before she pushed her glasses up to the bridge of her nose.

“I see you have gotten some of the story. This saves me some time and explanation. Very well then… I’m sure being the magical novice you are, you wouldn’t have any idea of what magical overload is, so I will go ahead and explain it to you. Magical overload is basically when you circulate far too much magical power through your body to the point of infringing on your physical senses. Seeing as magical energy, even the stuff in the human body, is somewhat chaotic, this can have a multitude of effects in a mage.”

Seeing that Andrew, along with Serena, had a confused look, she opted to point him out.

“What exactly are you having trouble comprehending.”

Seeing as he had the floor, Andrew spoke up.

“Well… the part I’m having trouble understanding is the bit about the magical energy interfering with the physical body. Since magical energy comes from your body, shouldn’t it be able to handle the amount it has?”

“Passively, yes it can do this, but forcing it to flow through your body at a rate of your choosing is like using a muscle you haven’t used in a long time for starters to the magical arts. One can train the body to sustain the flow, but you have to get used to it first or you run the risk of magical overload. In your case, since your power comes from the world tyrant and you had never had a magical flow in the first place, you can very easily cause this by using just a fraction of that power.”

Andrew nodded at her, but he felt he had to ask something else.

“Then what about my drastic increase in physical strength? Is that a result from my body passively circulating that power?”

Before Morgana could speak, she felt her body churn for a moment, rendering her unable to speak for a moment. However, Kanneth decided to take over to allow the mage a moment to recover.

“Yes, That Is correct. Though I only know monsters and Mamono to be able to do this. Though given where your power comes from and who crafted your magical circuits, I’m not all that surprised…”

Andrew nodded his head in understanding, though Morgana spoke up a moment later.

“Since your body is still trying to get used to it from the looks of it, it can be expected that your physical power will continue to grow over time until you achieve the same level of strength he did… well, granted you survive to see the day.”

Andrew didn’t like the sound of that, but the question was taken out of his mouth when Serena spoke up in a worried tone.

“What do you mean by that? Will this kill him?”

“It could if he isn’t careful, but I think that both his familiars will be much more observant of him from now on to see that that does not happen. No, the thing you should start to worry about now is others coming after you, especially after what you did.”

Andrew looked at Morgana in confusion, but he had a feeling he knew what she was going to say.

“I…take it that my use of power was rather… attention grabbing?”

Kanneth chuckled nervously.

“That’s… a mild way of putting it.”

Morgana only rolled her eyes.

“You emitted enough power for anybody with even the slightest ability to detect magic to feel you. And I mean anybody, that’s pretty much on a world-wide scale.”

Andrew nodded at her for a moment, the words not really sinking in for him just yet. Seeing this, Morgana narrowed her eyes at him.

“In case you’re not aware, many people felt that surge of power, and anybody who’s lived long enough to recognize it will think either Oda has returned, or that someone has his power. One of those actually being true.”

It took him a second, but Andrew quickly began to get what it was she was hinting at.

“Ah… OH! Oh shit… I’m a target now aren’t I.”

Kanneth and Morgana nodded at him in confirmation, leaving Andrew feeling like he was just hit with a very sudden realization. Feeling the overwhelming thought start to hone in on him, Andrew looked down at his hands in some futile attempt to try to see past the flesh and at the power in his body. This power was now making him a target, a target that had been feared almost a thousand years ago. However, Kanneth speaking up caused him to look up at her.

“Well… it will make you a target yes, but I think the only ones you will need to truly fear are major powers like the gods and their factions, the demon lord herself, and perhaps any would be survivors to Odas army. Still though, they don’t know you like we know you, and I know you’re a good person from what I can see… though just to be safe, you should probably try to learn how to suppress your power to non-existent levels so as not to be hunted. Though I’m still a little surprised that of all the powers you possessed, it was those of the World Tyrant himself… I guess my vision has some merit to it right?”

Andrew couldn’t help but smile weakly at her, though a huff from Morgana drew attention.

“You can try to suppress it, but it will only be a matter of time before someone finds out. You can’t keep that kind of power hidden forever no matter how hard you try. Sadly, the only thing that could be done at this point to stop it is to straight up kill you.”

Andrew was a little surprised, but Serena jumping to her feet was a little more surprising then the fact that Morgana was suggesting to murder him.

“Woah! Hold up! I think we should be looking for some other method then straight up extermination! It not like he asked to be like this or be filled with some evil gods power right? Plus, Aruma managed to suppress him earlier, who’s to say that she can’t do it again? Not only that, he can also try to learn to harness it! I mean, Unoma and Labareda should be able to do that, they are really powerful to if you guys are telling the truth.”

Morgana let out a low sigh.

“Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know, but the World Tyrant is feared for a reason. As for the bit with Aruma… well, you’ll need to discuss that with her. The only way I see that option working is to seal his power back up along with the girl. And I get the feeling you want to avoid that. But again, I’m sure both of your familiars should be able to-”

Before she could comment any further, Kanneth sat up straighter then she was a moment ago and started to speak.

“Yes who-” 

She was also cut off, but not by a person talking. This time it was by the sounds of the door behind them being torn off it’s hinges by being kicked in. Rapidly turning around, everyone was able to see the short form of a fiery little red headed demonic familiar. It was easy to see that she looked absolutely livid right now, but oddly enough, that fury filled gaze was directed at her current master and no one else. Nobody dared to say anything… well, almost nobody. The one who dared was the man currently being glared at.

“Labareda, you could’ve just-”

She cut him off when she raised her arm in the air and pointed at him.

“You. Stand up.”

Not sure what exactly was going on, Andrew looked to Serena for some kind of help. The twintail only looked at him, equally confused. Doing as he was asked to, Andrew stood up. Then she pointed off to the side.

“Move away from the table.”

Again, not sure what the hell was going on, Andrew did as he was asked and moved off to the side.

“Okay, so what exactly-”

What had to have been the fourth time someone had been cut off mid-sentence, Andrew shut his mouth when Lab literally launched herself right at him, the Baphomet going airborne with a lariat. Catching him right in the chest and knocking the wind out of him, the both of them went down, though Andrew was quickly mounted with Lab staring down at him with fury.

“Why do you feel the need to put yourself in obtuse amounts of danger?! Not only that, you have the gall to make a promise that you won’t run off without me, and what the fuck do I find you doing?! RUNNING OFF WITHOUT ME… AGAIN!”

Reaching down and painfully squeezing his face between her paws, Labareda put her face mere inches from his.

“Is this going to be a reoccurring issue _Master?”_

Andrew for the life of him knew she was his familiar, thus she was supposed to listen to him, but at this very moment, there was no one he feared more then Labareda. Not even his drill instructor instilled this much silent fear in his soul. Only lightly stammering, Andrew attempted to eke out a reply.

“Eh…ah…not to say… ah… no… no it won’t.”

For a moment, all she did was stare intently into his soul, her gaze almost unreadable past the quite anger. However, it gave way to sheer annoyance, and she let go of his face before hopping off of him.

“Somehow, I doubt you’ll keep your word on the matter. So, we will compromise on the situation. I will simply follow you anywhere and everywhere you go at this point.”

Working himself up to a sitting position while rubbing his sore chest, Andrew looked at her with a semi-confused expression.

“I don’t really see how that’s a compromise.”

“Oh it is. It’s a compromise between myself from either putting you on a literal short leash, or by letting you do as you wish. Cause you have proven to me that you are very good at putting yourself in terrible situations!”

Andrew felt that he should have said something about that, but at the same time, he really couldn’t refute her given his current track record. Only staring for a moment longer before he simply shrugged his shoulders, Andrew only replied shortly.

“Fair point. I guess we’ll do that then.”

Lab looked at him for a moment, as if she didn’t believe him one hundred percent right at that moment. She only did it for a short period of time though before she huffed.

“Good. Now that we have that all straightened out… what exactly is being talked about in secret here?”

Not one to wait, Serena divulged what had been discussed so far, though the familiar threw Morgana a very nasty look when Serena mentioned the part about offing her Master. At the explanations end, Labareda let out a deep grumble of sorts before she turned to her master (the both of them currently seated on one chair with Lab in Andrews lap.)

“Well, I was hoping that Unoma and I could train you a bit more before something like this could happen. But it appears that that idea has been stripped from our hands. However, even if we start training now, you have already been detected by those of a much higher power at this point. We’ll need to do a lot to get you up to at least average level.”

Andrew had the feeling that this is probably going to be his training from hell in the future, but he opted to put it on the back burner for the moment.

“I see… well, it is what it is at this point. By the way… how is Aruma?”

Labareda gave Andrew a bit of a complex look, like she wasn’t sure if she should answer. However, she only let out a small sigh before she leaned into his chest.

“She’s fine… for now.”

Andrew didn’t like that sound of that, and thus opted to expound on that discomfort by asking a question now needling in his mind.

“I don’t like the latter half of that sentence. What do you mean.”

“I mean that as she is, she will be fine. But the poor girl was already very drained of her mana when we found her. And saving your consciousness by pushing through a link only meant for familiar and master would be taxing for anybody even at full power. Needless to say, shes very weak. It doesn’t help that the nature of her mana is divine, which makes recovery for her very hard outside of certain places. However, if we wait on her recovery then she might not wake up.”

Andrew felt the concern wash over his face.

“Is there any way we can help her? Can I just… give her mana like I do for you and Unoma? I seem to have more then enough to spare.”

At that, Andrew got a few looks of varying degrees from everyone in the room. Serena and Morgana where those of a disapproving gaze, Kanneth only looked amused, while Labareda only looked annoyed.

“As much as you are a pervert master, taking advantage of a young girl like that is hardly wholesome. Corruption should be done while one is awake for it.”

Andrew only looked at her in an equally annoyed manner, though he didn’t say anything. This allowed Labareda to continue.

“Anyway… it wouldn’t work. The nature of your mana is vastly different in comparison to her own. You’d end up turning her into some kind of Mamono, especially since she is so low on her own power. I mean, if you’re into that kind of thing then-”

“I get it. Don’t do the loli cause it won’t work. Geez… stop making such a big deal out of it…”

Andrew felt he was blushing more then he should have, but the amused look he was getting from Lab didn’t make the blush go away any more quickly. However, Morgana clearing her throat caused everyone to to look at her.

“In any case… I think we have gone over what we can at this point… I also am starting to feel the roiling in my stomach again, and I feel the need to go lay back down. We’ll continue any conversation on this issue tomorrow. For now, I would suggest you do what you can to figure out what issues you may have Andrew.”

With that said, Morgana got to her feet and quickly made her way to the door, the sounds of quick foot steps turning into a running rhythm the moment she was out the door. Andrew had to give her props for being such a trooper despite her seasickness. He then brought his attention to Kanneth, the Hakutaku only smiling at him.

“I think we all could use some rest at this point. It’s been a bit of a tiring day for everyone, though I do hope you can find some answer for your predicament Andrew. Feel free to ask me or the crew any questions if you want. I also will need to speak with you in regards to a few things tomorrow as well. Until then, try to rest well… also, Lady Labareda? Do you mind fixing my door on the way out seeing as you did break it.”

Labareda had the decency to look just slightly sheepish about that before she promised that she would. With nothing else to say, Andrew and his group bid the captain farewell, and after getting the door fixed up, they began making their way back to the room. However, as the group did so, the sound of a voice calling out to them caught the groups attention. Turning to look, they saw Frida making her way toward them until she came to a stop in front of Andrew.

“Hey, what’s up. Did you need something?”

Frida, who had called out, seemed to be stuck for words for a moment, one of her hands coming up to the back of her head as she seemed to look around as if to find the words she needed.

“Eh…Actually… maybe… not need something so much as… well… it’s kinda hard to say… I’m not really the type for this kind of thing… but Fenella did say we should do this at some point during the trip… so…”

Andrew was a little confused by how she was acting, but he didn’t question her or interrupt her train of thought. Frida herself brought her attention to him with a somewhat uncomfortable look on her face before she let out a low sigh.

“Well… no point in holding it off…”

With those words out of her mouth, she quickly stood ram-rod straight and bowed low to him.

“I wanna thank you for saving my life!”

Andrew, not really sure where this may have been coming from, only looked at her with a somewhat blank look on his face.

“Um… are you talking about saving the crew and the ship in particular or you individually.”

Frida stood back up and looked at him straight on when she answered.

“Me in particular actually. The Dragon turtle was actually going to kill me at the time, and if you hadn’t come in when you did, I would very much dead at this point. So… I wanted to thank you for that.”

Andrew nodded at her as he came to understand the motives behind this. However, he couldn’t help but sheepishly laugh a little.

“Well… I would say your welcome, but I don’t really feel that it’s all that appropriate since I ended up doing that when I wasn’t even aware of it.”

Serena let out a small huff before she lightly tapped Andrew on the shoulder.

“Well say it anyway even if you didn’t mean to do so. IN case you forgot, she was one of the people who saw you like that in the first place. So I’m pretty sure she’s quite aware of that.”

Andrew only looked at Serena for a second, the words being oddly convincing for what they were. Turning back to Frida, Andrew mentally shrugged before he smiled at her.

“Well… You’re welcome. I’m glad that even if it wasn’t intentional, I ended up saving your life.”

Frida smiled at home before practically jumped up right next to him and put a powerful arm around his shoulder, drawing him in close to her chest. In other words, a nice big hug.

“Likewise! And sorry if it seems like I wasn’t really hospitable earlier. The way you where when you saved me and the sheer amount of power you had at the time left me really baffled and unsure of how to treat you. but I guess I was just being stupid about it!”

Not resisting the bare tits mashed into the side of his face, Andrew only smiled lewdly at his current predicament. However, Frida let him go quickly, forcing him to stand up straight again.

“Well, I kinda just wanted to get that off my chest. But I’m more then willing to give the ships hero a nice wet reward for his hard work.”

Anybody in earshot pretty much knew what she was on about, earning an annoyed sigh from Serena while Labareda could only chuckle under her breath. Andrew for his part only smiled.

“You know I’ll take you up on that offer at some point.”

Frida smiled widely at the prospect of it and bid them farewell after that. With no more distractions on the deck to hamper the party, Andrew and the rest quickly made their way back downstairs and into the room they shared. Upon entering though, they where surprised to see that Unoma was awake and up, and oddly enough dressed in a different set of clothes then what she had on earlier. It was black in color, and if Andrew had to throw out what it looked like, he would compare it to something he would find in a sex related skyrim mod. The thing draped over her shoulders loosely with long sleeves that went well past her hands and had a very open front that went well to her navel, the side of her large breasts in view, but still remaining hidden enough to be called decent. The back was also her low cut, going down to about her mid-back. If he was tempted to, he could just pull on the loose shoulder section and the whole thing looks as if it would fall away to reveal her nudity. Even the lower half did little to hide her hips and leg.

Andrew felt his face scrunch up in concentration before he spouted something in a foreign language.

“Me Gusta.”

Hearing the sounds of a voice, Unoma turned around to see that everyone was back. However, she didn’t look all that happy when her eyes fell on Andrew.

“Ah… there you all are… we need to have a few words _Dear_ Master.”

Andrew could feel the emphasis on that one word, her irritation very evident.

“Um… I would like to mention that before you do anything, Lab has already seen fit to nearly knock me out with a flying clothesline. If you must physically abuse me to get your irritation out, please do it in a quiet manner so as not to wake up Aruma… also please be gentle about it.”

Unoma looked to the demon familiar for a moment with a somewhat amused expression on her face. However, it was quickly brought back to him, though the sound of a familiar if not unexpected voice in the room caught everyone’s attention.

“A flying what now? That sounds painful. You okay?”

Looking over, everyone saw that Sarya was currently sitting on the bed next to Aruma, the blonde angel still asleep. Andrew, getting over the initial surprise of seeing the elf, simply smiled at her.

“I’m good. I’m kinda used to such small amounts of physical abuse after all. Though on another note…”

Andrew left the very obvious question hanging in the air, though it would seem that Serena wasn’t want to leave it as such.

“What are you doing in here?”

Sarya looked back to Aruma, a smile on her face.

“Coming to check up on Aruma actually. I hadn’t heard anything about her for a while, so I thought I would come and see how she’s doing. Sadly, it looks like she’s still fast asleep.”

Labareda nodded at the elf before the demonic familiar took a seat on the chair in the room.

“Sadly, she’ll probably stay that way for a while. Something we are actually about to talk about amongst other things…”

Labareda’s gaze fell on the elven archer, as if to tell the elf that this was something she wasn’t meant to hear. However, Unoma spoke up in the womans defense surprisingly.

“We should be fine to talk about what we need with her in the room Lab. She’s already privy to our Masters condition anyway, and I’m sure anything that was discussed with the mage will no doubt circulate to her party at this point. I also trust her a little more then the mage as well.”

Labareda only looked to her former master with a super annoyed expression, however, she brought her attention back to Andrew, who had taken a seat next to Unoma on the couch the Dark Mage had been sitting on. 

“Personally, the less ears we have on us the better in my opinion. But I’m willing to listen to master at this point, even if his choices have been very poor as of late.”

Andrew had the sense to act slightly sheepish, but only nodded his head.

“I trust Sarya. And Unoma is right about Morgana anyway. Anything mentioned here will no doubt match up with what was said in the meeting earlier.”

Lab let out a low sigh at that, but conceded to the point.

“Very well. If that’s out of the way, then let’s get to the meat of the issue, shall we?”

Andrew nodded in understanding before he sat back and waited for either of his familiars to begin. Not surprisingly, Labareda was the one to start.

“Alright then… lets go ahead and go over one of the bigger issues we currently face. That being the one with Aruma and the details involved with her recovery.”

Andrew nodded in agreement, but he opted to pose a question.

“Like you said, the nature of her Mana is divine, thus why nobody seems able to help her… but I’m curious. What does that mean exactly? I wasn’t aware of different kinds of mana. I thought it all fell under one big category.”

Labareda waved her paw at him with a slight sigh.

“Common mistake for all first-time practitioners. Mana can actually be separated into hundreds of different categories, but for now, I’ll just explain the difference for what would be considered the big three. Firstly, we have what humans would call normal mana. This mana would be what is considered the ‘basic’ form of mana. It comes from everything that’s alive, humans, plants, animals, anything that breaths and lives exudes its own mana. Next we have divine mana, this mana is mostly found in divine creatures or gods, thus why we believe Aruma to be some kind of divine. Then we have Monster mana, the mana of creatures like orcs, goblins, werewolves, and oddly enough, creatures like me as well… and Unoma if we opted to count her in. Though originally, she wielded Normal mana like average humans. I take it her transformation has something to do with that.”

Unoma nodded her head, the mage having already laid her head down onto Andrews lap.

“Yes. I give off Monster Mana now. It doesn’t really affect me at all, but if I had to hazard a guess, It probably has something to do with what happened after the world had to be restructured. If anything, it’s made spellcasting and manipulating mana to be much easier to me. So, yay for me.”

Andrew only chuckled to himself as he reached down and gently stroked the woman’s hair. Unoma sighed contently while Labareda only looked annoyed. Serena was simply conflicted about it again. Lab only pushed her annoyance aside as she continued explaining.

“Anyway… we’ll get into what’s what later on, but for now, lets focus on the recovery aspect of Mana. In regards to Normal mana for humans, that tends to recover naturally depending on the strength of the individual’s life force. For monsters, they happen to have a larger amount then humans and have better control over it. But in exchange, they have a slower recovery rate then humans and other creatures. Divine mana is by far some of the strongest around and comes in massive quantities. However, it has by far the worst recovery rate of all three. Thus why a god or a divinity is hard pressed to do much in the realm of mortals. That recovery is dependent on the area they are in after all. They have to be in a place that radiates divinity to even start recovery, thus why they tend to stay in their home realms.”

Andrew nodded his head as he started to get a bigger picture of what was being said.

“I see… and since Aruma’s mana is of the divine category… she won’t recover naturally unless we take her to someplace that exudes that mana, right?”

Unoma nodded her head.

“Correct Dear Master. However, seeing as myself and Lab have been gone for a good deal of time, we aren’t really sure where we might find any places that would fit the bill or if the places we do recall are even here anymore.”

Andrew nodded in some understanding, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but question something. However, Serena seemed to have the same idea he did, and voiced that idea aloud.

“Couldn’t we just take her to a church or something? Isn’t that divine enough? I’m not one for religion… or I don’t think I am, but I would think that would be enough.”

Surprisingly, Sarya spoke up next, catching everyone’s attention.

“It’s not really the same per-se. It actually has a lot to do with the divinity itself. A church can function as a place of recovery for Aruma… but that depends on how strong the faith is in that particular church. The recovery rate would be even better if something like a divine revelation or a Hero anointing had taken place there. Even better if the god had actually visited that place. However, Gwent may have a few churches dedicated to a few gods, but I don’t recall anything like what I was just describing happening there.”

Andrew nodded in understanding.

“I see… so it wouldn’t work in Gwent then… is there any place close we can try?”

Sarya thought about it for a moment, her eyes squinted in some thought as she tried to project in her mind a map of locations like what she had been talking about. However, she only looked somewhat annoyed at herself.

“I… really can’t remember off the top of my head. Jonathan or Morgana would probably be better at recalling something like that then I would. Actually, if you give me a few minutes, I’ll go ahead and see if I can pester our sickly mage enough for an answer. That or Jonathan if he’s done with whatever he was doing above deck.”

Andrew nodded at her and watched the elf make her way out the door, but not before she gave Aruma one gentle headpat. Watching her go, Andrew could only smile at the Elf’s love of children. However, his attention was brought back to the group when Unoma picked herself up off of Andrews lap and looked at him with a serious gaze.

“I didn’t think she would be leaving so soon, but now that she’s out of here, lets go ahead and talk about one major issue that you have failed to mention in all of this Dear Master.”

Being singled out all of a sudden, Andrew didn’t really have a state of mind to reply to her, only being confused. However, Labareda let out a low sigh.

“Yes… so. Tell me master, how long have you been in contact with those six familiars of Oda’s?”

It suddenly dawned on Andrew where this was about to go.

“Ah… Um… ever since I picked up the axe?”

Lab looked highly annoyed while Unoma let out a very weary sigh, the woman’s shoulders slumping. Serena, who had been quiet throughout most of the conversation, only cocked her head to the side in some confusion.

“Six familiars? What are you on about? I thought you guys where his only… ah… familiars.”

Unoma looked over at Serena, an explination already on her lips.

“No, we are familiars to Andrew. The contracts that Oda had with his own six familiars really don’t count here. However, that’s a bit of a magical mess as it is since technically, they are still bound to Oda, but Dear Master has Oda’s power… so… it’s a big pain to explain specifically. Just think of it as him having inherited a will of sorts.”

“Ah, Actually Unoma, they listen to me they said… sorta. I’m kinda in a testing period with them right now to see if I’m good enough for them.”

Labareda let out a small snort from her nose.

“ha! Is that what Leviathan told you?”

Andrew, curious, nodded in answer.

“Yeah. Why?”

Andrew was surprised when a scowl crossed her face.

“Leviathan is a slimy conniving worm who would word anything to sound advantageous to his contract holder. What he won’t tell you are the small details about certain contracts like any demon would. So, was he the one who put you up to using that awful power?”

Andrew shook his head.

“No actually. It was Grendal who put me up to it. He said he wanted to test my fighting power against that the Longgue. He didn’t tell me how to do that specifically outside of a very vague piece of advice going something like ‘Better to feel Primal then think about it’ or whatever he said.”

Lab actually got angry at that.

“That piece of shit! He was trying to force you to go into an overloaded state! And it worked obviously!”

Unoma looked over at the familiar and waved her hand to quiet her down.

“Enough of that. Getting angry at this point does nothing. Though I can understand the anger.”

Lab looked as if she wanted to fume some more, but she reigned it in. Bringing her full attention back to Andrew, she continued on.

“Very well…Other than Leviathan and Grendal, who else have you been in contact with?”

Andrew thought about it for a moment before he spoke up.

“Other than those two, Hati, Skol, and Hræsvelgr. I have yet to speak with Bahamut yet since the other five seemed terrified of him and didn’t want to be around when I did.”

“And for good reason Master. In the war many years ago Bahamut had only ever been used once. That thing is a mindless engine of destruction that didn’t discern friend from foe. Only after it had razed half a continent was it finally pulled back. I think Oda didn’t use it again because he wanted to try to rule something after the war.”

Andrew felt very uncomfortable about hearing that, but the sound of Serena talking drove it away from him for the moment.

“Okay, so this bahmut thing sounds really dangerous, but I don’t really know about the other ones you mentioned. Are they just as bad? And who are they?”

Labareda leaned back into the chair she was sitting in before she spoke up, though through a great deal of annoyance and anger.

“Oda’s six Familiars are terrifying in their own right, but each of them individually are a monster. Leviathan is a great user of magic and very powerful by himself, but his main schtick is tricking others and using his intellect to win his fights. Grendal is basically a battle freak who loves to fight, fight, and fight some more. He’s physically the strongest of the six of them behind Bahamut. Next are Hati and Skol. The both of them take the form of wolves, with Hati one who uses Ice and Skol using Hellflame. They always work together which makes them a real pain to deal with, especially since Hati is a cool sadist and Skol is a hotheaded brute who enjoys brutalizing his foes. Lastly we have Hræsvelgr. Nobody really knows much about him, but he uses wind and necromancy. He didn’t partake in the warfront very much, but I get the feeling he’s as taciturn as Leviathan is. Got all that? I could go on and on about all of them and how god fucking awful they are, but that’s not the point of the current discussion. The current discussion being that you’ve been in contact with them at all.”

At that last sentence, Labareda turned her attention back to Andrew, the little familiar looking highly annoyed. Andrew could only shrug his shoulders at her.

“What was I supposed to do? Leviathan came to me first, and I didn’t want any surprise visits so I forced all of them to come out. We talked for a bit and then we had the thing with Grendal today. I tried to get in touch with them again about it, but they either can’t hear me right now, or they are choosing to ignore me.”

Unoma shook her head.

“They probably are choosing to ignore you right now considering whatever plan they had backfired. They won’t try to get in touch with you again for a while. And when they do, block them out. Nothing good comes from associating with the likes of Oda’s followers. Especially when they seem to be trying to force you to become the next world tyrant.”

Andrew mentally could see what she was talking about, but another part of him didn’t altogether agree with straight up blocking them out. Yes, they did force him into this situation, but he honestly should have been more attentive to the situation at the time. It also seemed silly to throw away an asset like that just because it seemed dangerous, he just needed to be much more careful of it was all. However, with how vehement they were being about the six, he only opted to sigh a bit.

“Alright, I’ll do what I can. Though I will admit that even if they hadn’t forced this situation on me, the fact that this could happen again only shows me that I need to have more training in regards to magic. You both have been doing what you can, but I think that trying to get used to my power would be the best way to get a handle on it.”

Both of his familiars looked to each other with some discomfort on their faces. They knew he was right, but at the same time, it was still dangerous. Labareda let out a low sigh once again before she slumped in her chair.

“I feel you are right, but at the same time, I still feel we need to take it much more slowly. However, it seems we will need to put that on hold for the time being seeing as Sarya has returned.”

Turning to look at the door, Andrew was a little surprised when he saw the handle turn and the mentioned elf walked through it with a bit of a complicated look on her face. Wanting to poke some fun in the situation due to how it had been nothing but serious talk, Andrew did as he planned.

“So did she puke at you for a few minutes before she gave you an answer.”

Everyone couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit at that. Sarya shrugged her shoulders.

“nah, she managed to hold her lunch down admirable. However, I’m not sure you’ll like any of the info I’m about to give you.”

Waiting for her to take a seat, that spot being next to Aruma again so she could check on the girl, Sarya directed her attention back to the group.

“So, I managed to get some info about holy spots that would be close and were powerful enough to give Aruma a speedy recovery. Thing is, not one of them is very close. And of all the places Morgana mentioned to me, only three of them stuck out to me as being the closest. The first is Mt. Corona up north, a mountain filled to the brim with the divine energy of the God of War. It was said that this place was struck by her weapon when she got into a fight with the Chief God. I thought this place would be good at first, but then I recall where the mountain is located at. It’s in the Dragon Maw Ridge bordering Dragonia.”

Andrew cocked his head to the side curiously.

“I’m curious about that name. Is Dragonia a land of Dragons or something? Cause it sounds like it would be full of dragons.”

Sarya nodded her head at him.

“And you would be right. Dragonia is ruled by the Dragon Queen, though it’s not quite that full of dragons seeing as many of them where killed in the war with Nobulax. Anymore you find salamanders, Lizardmen, Sahugain, and other scalies in its borders. However, Mt. Corona is located in the Dragon Maw Ridge north of Dragonia’s borders. That’s full of dragons of every type ranging from Mamono, to unaltered dragons. It is considered a very dangerous place, so not many people go there.”

Labareda simply huffed smugly.

“I would only be worried if it was a Great Wyrm category of dragon. But that’s just one of the places you’ve mentioned. What’s another one you have?”

Sarya nodded in understanding before she spoke up.

“Well. The next place I would sorta kinda maybe recommend would be the holy capital itself. The Grand cathedral there is said to have been blessed by the chief god herself and has had many heroes anointed there along with a whole bunch of divine revelations. Problem is that it would take you a month and a half to get there. Not only that… but given what kind of power you have Andrew, and I don’t think you would even be able to get close before someone wanted to kill you.”

Unoma shook her head.

“Yeah, that one is out of the question. What’s the last one.”

Sarya sighed.

“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t go with that one. Well, that just leaves the Elven temple of Aur-Iotl, the elven god of light. Its located in the elven country not to far from Gwent. Only problem is that outside of some very very special circumstances, no human is allowed in the temple.”

Unoma sighed at that.

“Ah, the elven land of Trinimoc… yeah. That’s also a no go unless you wanted to try sneaking in. and I wouldn’t suggest that.”

Andrew looked between the two of them before he turned his attention Aruma, a less then pleased expression on his face.

“So our only real options are to go to a dragon infested mountain range, a holy city that would execute me the moment I walk into it, or a country that’s xenophobic of humans getting into it’s holy land. Are you sure you can’t think of anything else that might work?”

Sarya only shook her head at him.

“Yeah. The Holy country is almost two Months Travel from Gwent, Trinimoc is a month and a half, and Dragonia is a month to three weeks. Any place else with holy points as powerful as those three would take even longer then those to get to.”

Andrew only let out a low sigh before he leaned back into the couch, his face directed at the ceiling.

“Not a lot of good choices… but with the information presented, all I can say about our current course would be to head to Dragonia.”

Labareda also let out a low sigh.

“I also concur… unless you wanted to turn Aruma from a divine being into one of corruption and just save us a trip.”

Both serena and Sarya gave Lab a very chastising look, though the familiar didn’t seem t care about it. Andrew could only shake his head at her.

“Lets not shall we? But in any case, we should probably find out what we can about Dragonia along with the Dragon Maw Ridge. Got anything for us sarya?”

The elf only shook her head at him.

“Fraid not. I haven’t been to dragonia before myself sadly. None of our missions or jobs ever took us that way, so you would be on your own in regards to that. Would Unoma or Labareda know anything about it?”

Both of the familiars thought about it for a moment before they replied.

“Nope. Doesn’t ring a bell sadly.”

“I have about the same answer as Unoma in that regard.”

Andrew only shrugged his shoulders, not really expecting either of his familiars to be able to answer.

“It is what it is. When we get to Gwent, we’ll see what we can find out.”

Everyone in the group, save for Sarya, nodded in agreement. It was easy to see that the long discussion had come to an end, something Andrew was grateful for seeing as he was starting to feel a little restless from all the sleeping and sitting he had done today. Letting a small sigh escape his nose, Andrew got to his feet.

“Well, since we got all of that out of the way, I think I’m going to go for a short walk. I’m itching to stretch my legs.”

Labareda gave him a certain look, one he quickly picked up on.

“Aaaaaand I don’t think I’ll be going alone. mind coming with me Lab?”

With an approving smile on her face, the red-haired demon also stood up.

“But of course. Wouldn’t want you getting into trouble again now would I?”

Letting a short and sheepish laughter come from his mouth, Andrew turned his attention to the other two of his party.

“You guys want to come along as well?”

Serena only shook her head.

“Nah, I think I’m good. Someone should stay here and keep an eye on Aruma in case she wakes up.”

Unoma herself nodded in agreement.

“I will also be staying here in the event of Aruma waking up. Her body will naturally force her awake every once in a while, and it would be best to take care of her during those short awakenings.”

Andrew nodded in understanding at them both.

“Alright then… I won’t be gone very long, so call for me if you need anything from me or Labareda.”

Both of them simply responded with a ‘will do’ before Andrew made his way back out of the door with Labareda in tow. As they continued to walk, Lab opted to speak up as they made their way down the hall.

“So, what are you planning to do on this supposed ‘walk’ of yours master?”

Andrew looked back at Labareda, a small smile on his face.

“Eh, nothing much. Just walk a bit, take in some sights, maybe get a little friendly with the crew, maybe talk with the captain about this or that. Who knows, I’ll just let things happen as they happen.”

Lab only let a huff escape her lips, but she had a feeling that she knew where this little venture would lead.

“Quite insatiable aren’t you Master.”

Andrew didn’t say anything after that, though he couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath as he made his way up the stairs. Having made their way back out onto the deck, Andrew was a little surprised to see that there was nobody up here. However, the sun having dipped below the horizon and the darkness of the night creeping into the sky indicated that he had been talking with his party for a little while, so he could only guess that most of them had either gone to the crew quarters, or were doing something else with there spare time. Making his way to the starboard side, Andrew decided to see if he could catch a glimpse of the Dragon Turtle he had slain. Such was the case when he saw the shell of the beast behind the boat along with one of its large clawed fins. He couldn’t help but admire the size of it while also wondering how he had the strength to kill such a beast by himself. His view was disturbed when Labareda hopped up on the railing directly in his view and looked back at the turtle herself. She then let out a low whistle as she turned to look back at her Master, a big grin on her face.

“Though you were out of it when you did that, I will admit that your level of physical strength is nothing to sneeze at master. Granted I could have done the same thing had you simply called for me. However, I suppose you are right when you said you need more magical training in order to control this power you have. I can only imagine the bruise’s I would suffer if you were to fuck me with such strength unabated.”

Andrew chuckled a little at the joking tone she said that in, but his inner mind did worry about it on a more realistic scale.

“Will I be able to actually control such power?”

“Eventually. It will take some time and some severe amounts of training, but we should get you to a manageable level before it gets _too_ out of hand. However, just as was mentioned in the meeting, Unoma and I will need to put all of our efforts into teaching you to suppress yourself to a minimalist level. Thankfully the captain made mention that with the addition of your kill, the boat’s load-out will hamper our progress to Gwent by a day and a half. Meaning we will be looking at a three-day boat ride. Maybe four if something else happens. Plenty of time to teach you how to fully suppress yourself.”

The only male on deck simply nodded at her before he turned his attention out to the vast ocean expanse in front of him, the first twinkling of stars on the darkened horizon indicating that night would soon fall. The heavy beating of wings above him distracted him though, causing him to look up to see the familiar white plumage of Tannath above him as she descended to the deck behind them. Smiling at her as she landed, Andrew raised his hand in greeting.

“Hey there Tan. Still hard at work?”

Tannath shook her head at him.

“I actually just got done with my last round for the rest of the night. Once the rest of the crew gets done placing wards on the Dragon Turtle corpse and the ship, we will all be retiring for the evening. It’s been a hectic day so far, so everyone I think will need the rest. Especially since our progress will slow down due to the haul we have currently.”

Labareda nodded in understanding before she hopped off the railing.

“Makes sense. It has been an interesting day for everyone today. Though I do hope this delay won’t cause any issues for you or the captain.”

Tannath simply shook her head before she made her way to the side of the boat, her eyes scanning out into the horizon for any last-minute changes in the scenery.

“Not at all. More then anything this should help us out a lot. I think the captain will want to barter with you tomorrow about the Dragon turtle since you killing it makes it yours to do with as you please.”

Andrew wasn’t necessarily surprised when he heard that, but that only gave him another thing to think about in regards to this trip. He didn’t try to think about it too deeply though since he figured that kind of thing would best be saved for tomorrow. The sound of the harpy next to him caused him to bring his attention outward though.

“So, what are the two of you doing out here? I figured you would want to be sleeping at this point.”

Andrew only shrugged his shoulders.

“Hard to do that when all I’ve done today is sleep. I’ll probably need to do something about it though since it’s been messing with my sleep schedule as of late. In answer to the question though, we just felt like wandering around in hopes of something interesting happening. Though if nothing happens, Lab and I will more then likely just head back down to the room and test our luck with sleeping.”

Tannath looked between the two of them for a moment before she diverted her gaze elsewhere.

“I see… something happening huh…”

At the mention of that, Andrew couldn’t help but try to pay a little more attention to her, the harpy’s face forward and toward the ocean, but her eyes peeking at him from the corner of her vision. Andrew observed her for a moment, watching her meticulously as she leaned against the railing with her wings, her ass straight out and her back curved just in the right way for this simple leaning pose to look just a little too seductive to be unintentional. Walking up next to her, but staying away from the railing, Andrew brought his attention to the long tribal skirt she wore. Going off of memory, Andrew couldn’t help but point it out.

“Sorry if this seems like an invasive question, but I couldn’t help but notice a few things about you and the crew Tannath.”

Her ‘attention’ still focused on the open ocean, Tannath response shortly.

“About what?”

“Well, I’m curious about why most of the crew wears those tribal looking skirts of yours. Most of the crew seems to have them save for Imh’ege and the captain herself. Not only that, but everyone seems to go topless around here. Except for the Captain of course.”

Tannath, having ‘finished’ her inspection of the ocean, turned to look at Andrew, her wings held out and away from her body to show off her exposed upper half and covered lower half.

“This? The skirts are actually kinda like a uniform for the crew. The captain made them herself, having imbued them with magical capabilities. As for why most of the crew goes topless… well…”

Tan put her wing tips up to her small breasts and lightly pushed them together, a small but lewd smile on her face as she did.

“Hard to show them off when you have them hidden. In town we cover ourselves sure. But out here on the open water, we hope to get lucky with any sexually frustrated men.”

The intentions couldn’t have been anymore clear with that statement, something both Andrew and Labareda were quick to notice. Lab herself actually coming into view and examine the girls body for herself.

“Oh-ho… Master, I can’t help but think that she might be insinuating something.”

Andrew, feigning some Ignorance, couldn’t help but look at his familiar with some mock confusion.

“Really? I would never have figured Lab. Since you are so much more learned then I am, would you mind pointing out what it is she might be hinting at?”

Lab, trying not to giggle madly at the silliness of they game they where playing, walked back behind Tannath, the Harpy growing somewhat flushed with embarrassment and hints of excitement. Once there, the demonic familiar gently brought her hands around Tan’s waist, the soft and velvety pads of her paws moving their way across the harpy’s sides.

“I do believe she wants someone to touch her Master. To gently feel and caress the skin of her body, to perhaps do something… indecent. Am I wrong?”

Tannath looked over her shoulder at Lab for a moment before she turned her attention back to Andrew, a small but sheepish smile on her face.

“Subtly is generally the better part of discretion you know. It makes me feel embarrassed when you point it out like so…”

Coming closer, Andrew couldn’t help but smile at the harpy.

“True, but my group doesn’t like to beat around the bush. Of course, I also did promise you that I would come and see you after all.”

Lab peeked around the side of Tan, the girl’s paws coming to rest on the harpy’s hips with a pity expression on the Familiars face.

“All these promises of sex and not one made to me in the same category. I feel slightly cheated Master.”

Andrew placed his hand’s on top of Labs paws.

“True, but at the same time, you and Unoma I see all the time. I’ll only see the crew of the blissful tide for a few more days at most. So, I feel it would be best to prioritize the limited meetings. Don’t you agree Tannath?”

At that, Andrew moved his hands off of Labs paws and moved his hands up around Tannaths bust, his hands having not forgotten the feeling of her breasts from earlier that day. The harpy kept her face somewhat still, but at the same time, the blush on her face couldn’t really be ignored.

“Maybe… depends really… but I don’t mind regardless…”

Despite the vague answer, Andrew couldn’t help but smile at her. Having his hands placed on the Harpies mediocre breasts, Andrew opted to squeeze them gently, the small sound coming from Tans mouth doing wonders for Andrews sexual excitement. Not one to keep himself waiting for very long, Andrew moved himself much closer to Tanneth, his head moving closer to the cusp of her neck. Not one to act like a pervert, Andrew gently smelled of her scent, the harpy giving off the faint aroma of the sea, along with the much stronger scent of the sun.

“You know Tan… I find it a little amazing that despite being a sea faring person, your skin isn’t as bronze colored as I would have expected.”

Finishing his thought, Andrew brought his lips to the harpy’s neck and gently kissed it, the Girl letting at a slightly startled squeak. However, she quickly regained her composure a moment later to answer his question.

“I’m not really sure of the reason, but the captain said it has something to do with my heritage as an albatross harpy… I don’t mind though… ah!”

A small and sudden gasp came from her mouth, but not due to something Andrew had done. Andrew was gently kissing her neck and her cheeks, the feeling she had came from lower down close to her thighs. Chancing a look, she saw that the red-haired demon familiar was busy running a furry paw across her legs as if to inspect them. Noticing her gaze with a sly grin, the familiar only looked up at the harpy.

“Sorry, don’t mean to interrupt you or anything. Just utterly fascinated by your harpy physiology is all. Been curious since the last time a saw a real harpy was almost fourteen hundred years ago. Hope you don’t mind me getting a… closer look.”

Andrew could tell what Lab was up to, but he opted not to stop her, Tan obviously going to say something if she was really bothered by the Familiars prodding. Tannath for her part simply shook her head at the familiar, though she didn’t have much time to focus on her anymore when Andrews face came up and brought his lips to hers, the feeling of his fingers massaging her small breasts only enhancing her growing libido. While Andrew was busy up top, Labareda got to work down below, the familiar gently running her silky soft paws across the white harpies smooth and toned legs. However, her real prize would be located under the tribal skirt she wore. Thankfully this was easy to get around when she noticed the easily accessible slit up the right side. Working her way into the skirt itself, Labareda was happy to see that the harpy wore virtually nothing underneath, some slight moisture beginning to accumulate around the puffy mound indicating that Andrew was doing his job up top.

Smiling to herself, Lab spoke up.

“Well, this is a surprise. Do all of your crew go commando under these skirts dear?”

Andrew pulled away a little from his kiss with the harpy, the girl taking a moment to understand what she had heard.

“Ah… y-yeah… we don’t… even the captain under that cheongsam of hers doesn’t wear any kind of panties… easier access…”

With the question answered, Tannath moved her face back to Andrews, the harpy wanting to be on the offensive here this time, only this time with some added tongue. Andrew couldn’t say that he had been expecting it, but it had been pleasant to feel regardless, the feeling of her tongue in his mouth as he began to move his around with her own. He couldn’t say that he was expecting the level of precision she had as well, the way she seemed to masterfully dominate his mouth a clear indication that she had experience, and plenty of it. He would readily admit that had this been a one on one kissing match, he would most certainly lose, but thankfully, he wasn’t alone in assaulting a pair of lips. Tan, having momentarily forgotten the presence of another body, felt her eyes spring open and a slight gasp come from her mouth as she felt something enter her lower lips.

Labareda, who’s tongue was now currently playing a game of its own in the snatch of the bird, could only chuckle to herself at Tannath’s sudden moan. This left Andrew with a weakened bird at his mercy, allowing him to renew his kiss with her, though he opted to bring himself in close and bring her into a sensual embrace. Labareda only continued to work her tongue across the girl’s pussy, her mouth seemingly knowing what places to properly lick, nibble, and suck. Tannath was entirely at the mercy of the two, her body doing what it could for her to put up some kind of resistance, but only failing when Andrew and Labareda’s sexual stimulation renewed itself. Needless to say, with all of that going on, it didn’t take very long for Tannath to reach climax, the feeling of her body clenching informing both of her partners that she had hit peak. Andrew and Labareda stopped what they where doing, Lab moving out from under the skirt while Andrew held Tannath so as to stop her from collapsing. It didn’t last more then a few moments, but Tannath felt the glow on her body along with the waves of sexual bliss rolling from her loins, her body coming to relax against Andrews. However…

“I don’t feel that fulfilled yet…”

Curious about what she just said, Andrew watched her raise her head to look up at him, the glow quickly fading from her body.

“I want you to do more to me.”

Humming in some amusement, Andrew looked to Labareda. The demon only smiled lewdly as she licked her moist lips.

“Why not give her what she wants master?”

Andrew figured that would be her answer, but he also felt that he had to ask another question.

“Don’t want to join in yourself?”

Labareda only chuckled as she walked over to the railing, leaning against it as she looked at the two in front of her.

“Maybe in a while. I’m a bit of a voyeur truth be told, so I think I’ll just watch you until I feel like it.”

Andrew simply shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t actually find that surprising… but have it your way.”

Turning his attention back to Tannath, Andrew saw the eagerness in her face, an eagerness he no doubt shared as well.

“Hope you don’t mind being watched seeing as we are about to have an audience.”

Tannath only smiled as she pulled away from him, her wing coming down to her waist and undoing the knot that held her skirt up.

“I won’t mind it at all.”

Andrew drank in her appearance the moment that skirt hit the floor, her body boldly exposed to not only Andrews gaze, but to Labareda’s as well. It was easy to see Labs handy work from before on Tans pussy, the mound wet and somewhat dripping with feminine fluid that rolled down her inner thighs. Andrew felt his pants tightening at the sight in front of him, his cock starting to pitch a very impressive tent in his loose pants. Tannath eyes fell on the bulge down below and couldn’t help but let out an enthusiastic gasp. Andrew didn’t waste any time upon seeing her expression and undid the knot that kept his own lower body wear up, the thing falling to the ground and exposing his erect cock. Tans eyes where almost as wide as saucer plates at this point.

“Ahhhh, I don’t see dicks _that_ big very often… let alone take one so thick in me.”

Looking down, Andrew could only mentally take in his own dick at this point. Now he was sure that some magic shenanigans where at play, his dick being even bigger then the last time he had used it for sex. His attention fell to Lab, a questioning look in his eyes followed by one out of his mouth.

“You wouldn’t happen to be responsible for my sons growth spurt would you?”

Labareda let out a low chuckle as she taped her chin knowingly.

“Partially. But Unoma is your biggest culprit in this by far. She likes them very large, though I also have added to it as well. Does it displease you?”

Andrew couldn’t say anything about being displeased, his original size actually being under average in modern society.

“Not at all… just not used to it is all…”

The feeling of something suddenly enveloping his dick caused him to turn back to look at Tan currently performing intercrural, the slick feeling of her pussy juices along with her thick thighs feeling quite heavenly.

“Well… let me help you get used to it then… I pride myself on my legs after all…”

Without another word, Tan simply started rocking herself back and forth, the soft yet firm feeling of her inner legs along with the slick wetness of her pussy juices making it feel as if Andrew was actually having sex with her. The wet sounds of skin sliding together aroused both recipients, Tans slow and methodical back and forth combining into a mutual masturbation between both of them. Despite this heavenly feeling, Andrew felt that he should stand idle, not while Tannath stood in front of him with her nude body on display. Not wasting a second to more idleness, Andrew brought both of his hands up to grasp both of her small yet perky breasts, his hands going to town on fondling them to his delight. Tannath let out a low moan as she continued to stimulate her pussy with Andrews cock, the feeling of his hands sinking and palming her breasts causing her body to tingle delightfully.

“You… ah…. You sure seem to like my breasts… do you like them small?”

Andrew gently leaned down and nibbled on one of her tits, the girl letting out a delightfully cute sound.

“Truth be told? I have a wide strike range. It mostly depends on my mood. And I’m currently in the mood for some harpy breasts.”

Andrew nibbled once again, getting a repeat of earlier, however, He could feel his loins starting to reach his limit, the girls’ thighs masterfully working his large cock. Keeping his hands busy, Andrew started to thrust along with Tans rubbing, his pace quickening as he felt the need to spread his seed on her legs. Tan could feel his pace picking up quickly along with the straining of his cock as it was ready to blow its white load. She didn’t want it wasted on the outside of her body though. Stopping her motions, and put her wings around him in a hug only a large harpy breed could. Andrew, who was slightly confused about his lack of pace, looked down to see Tannath looking up at him.

“I would love to keep this up, but I personally think your spunk has a better place to go then on the deck don’t you think?”

Still lust hazed, Andrew wasn’t sure what she was on about, his body really wanting an outlet for his pent-up lust. Tannath moved herself away from him and went to the railing of the ship, placing her wings against the hard wood as she bent herself over the edge and exposed her dripping cunt to him, her ass enticing in its shape.

“I think this would be a much better place to put it, wouldn’t you agree?”

The eagerness of her tone couldn’t have been missed by even the densest of shounen protagonists, and Andrew considered himself far from dense. Smiling to himself, Andrew stepped up behind her, the length of his shaft sliding up between her ass cheeks while his hands came to rest on her hips. Not wanting to wait another second with idleness, Tannath enticingly wiggled her butt up and down, her asscheeks doing a good job of stroking Andrews girth member. Getting the point, Andrew let his lewd smile get wider as he pulled back a bit, carefully aligning himself with the wet snatch of the bird in front of him. Pressing his cock head against the the wet opening, Andrew gently pushed against it, testing the limits of her sex, and also to tease and maybe slightly torment Tannath.

The Harpy herself could feel the rounded shape of his cock against her slit, but not the penetration she so sought for in this situation. As if to alleviate this, she tried to gently push herself onto him, but much to her vexation, he would pull back enough so as not to fully penetrate her. She could only let out a sexually frustrate groan as she started to get a little more desperate by trying to push back a little more forcefully, this came to no avail though. The grin on Andrews face was close to sadistic at this point, though thankfully, Labareda came to Tannath rescue.

“Oh stop teasing her master. Doing any more then that and you’re just being cruel. I would also like to get off at some point as well.”

Laughing a little sheepishly, Andrew turned his attention back to Tannath. Running his hands up from her thighs and around her body, Andrew leaned down onto her, though not to the point where she was holding his weight. Gently kissing the side of her neck, Andrew whispered sweetly into her ear.

“Sorry. Let me treat you more appropriately…”

Nibbling her neck, Andrew slowly began to sink himself into her body, the feeling of his dick finally entering her leaving Tannath almost dizzy with glee. It was sensually slow, and painfully pleasurable for her as she felt every inch of his cock sinking into her body, the tightness of her inner walls doing nothing to stop the progress.

“Ahhh…ahhhhhhhhhhh…”

She couldn’t form coherent words, her body fully occupied with the sensation of a dick in her body after so long. Andrew was quite a bit more composed compared to her though, though that was probably in part due to him not just shoving himself in right at the start like he had been doing. Even still though, every time he stuck his dick into another Mamono, it was like he was a virgin all over again, the sensation almost feeling brand new with each new girl he lay with. It took a few more slow and hazy seconds, but he eventually managed to fit the entirety of his cock into her pussy, the harpy shaky with delight and her eyes unfocused. Bringing his hands under her, Andrew gently cupped her breasts again and gave her small nipples a gentle tug to draw her attention back to him.

“The fun’s just about to start, don’t go limp on me now okay?”

Tannath couldn’t get words out, but a simple nod of her head followed by low intake of breath was her response. That was all Andrew needed to begin.

Lab, who had simply watched all of it unfold, had to admit that the slowness of Andrews pace at first was incredibly sexy to her. The almost infuriating slowness matched with the feeling of every inch of cock moving along inside oneself… Lab was used to the quickness, the feverish speed, but the slowness and tenderness that her master exhibited would have left her a begging mess if he so ordain to do so with her. Even watching now, as he would slowly draw himself back out, and push himself back in with the same deliberate slowness left her paws on her pussy and trying to emulate what she was witnessing. If she didn’t have better self control, Lab was sure she would have been on him already and trying to get him to fuck her in such a manner… maybe when it was just her and Andrew though.

Tannath though was currently in the middle of what she had to have considered one of the must sexually torturous sessions of her life. It was slow, but each inch slowly going in and out of her left her weak-kneed and almost mewling at the tenderness of Andrews touch. Her mouth was open and she was panting, she wanted him to go faster and to ravage her, but she couldn’t get it out, her body to enraptured by this feeling to even try.

Even for Andrew though, this was unbearable. If he had been going quick, he would have felt his dick pounding into her, yes, but with the slowness he was going with, it was like one incredibly long stroke, every inch of her walls squeezing on him, every little fold in her pussy passing on his sensitive head. He had initially wanted to try being slow since he almost blew his load every time he tried going quickly, but this would finish him off perhaps even more quickly.

Quite the sexual irony in of itself. Thankfully he wasn’t the only one who was feeling the effects of this slow and sensual sex, Tannath pretty much at the same point he was at. It only took one more slow insertion for the both of them to feel the electricity run through their bodies, Andrews white seed pasting itself along the walls of Tannath shivering pussy and into her trembling womb. For the next few moments, they simply stayed there, Andrew clinging tightly to the harpy in his arms while Tannath could only tighten her whole body from the pleasure, her talons actually digging out the wood from under her feet. Eventually it came to an end, Andrew and Tannath coming to the ground in something of a heap, though Andrew had the presence of mind to keep Tannath close when he sat down, pretty much putting her in his lap.

Lab had managed to schlick herself to orgasm, though she felt somewhat empty due to the lack of either dick or cum in her body. However, she wasn’t about to let it get to her, the familiar walking up next to the panting and sweating pair.

“Well… I’m not used to seeing someone get off on slow sex, but there is a first for everything in a life as long as mine.”

Andrew only looked her way for a moment before he gave her a smile.

“Well, maybe I’ll show you what it feels like myself… but first, I gotta recover.”

Tannath, having started to recover, turned her self to look at him, her face flush with her previous lust and maybe with a bit of embarrassment, though the smile on her face was unmistakable.

“Um… Andrew… that was… really good… I feel like I could addicted to that… thank you…”

Seeing the cute smile on her face, Andrew chuckled a little before he leaned in and gave her a faint kiss on those lips of hers, the harpy being startled more then she had throughout sex with him.

“Not a problem, and thank you for putting up with my selfishness.”

“I hope you have a bit more of that selfishness in you, cause there ain’t no way that me and the rest of the girls are walking off after seeing all of that!”

Startled, Andrew and the other two mamono turned to see that Frida, Fenella, and Silque where standing not to far away, all of them obviously aroused in varying manners. Frida looked ready to pounce on them at a moments notice, Fenella had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed about peeping, and Silque only looked jealous. Labareda was the first to speak up.

“How long have you all been standing there I wonder.”

Silque answered her with some excitement.

“Since when Tan started shaking her ass at him. Are you ready to do me now? Wanna do all of us!?”

Andrew could see that he wasn’t getting out of this, all of the girls looking way to horny to even think of not doing it. Letting out a small sigh, Andrew simply shrugged his shoulders.

“Well… I guess I slept more then enough today anyway…”


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Andrew let out a low sigh, His eyes heavy and his body aching from the waist down. Which was why he was currently laying down on the bow of the ship. He had yet to get a wink of sleep since last night, most of the crew of the Blissful Tied having gone at him with fervor. They had taken turns swapping out until they had each had their fill of his semen, and after all of that, Lab had opted to join in as well, perhaps having had more shots put in her then the rest of the crew combined. Which was why she was standing off to the side looking as awake as could be while he felt like a turkey baster used within an inch of its life.

“You look like absolute garbage right now, you know that?”

Serena said with perhaps a little too much smug in her voice. She had come up onto the deck earlier, obviously well rested for her night in a decent bed.

Andrew only opted to look at her with equal levels of annoyance. Though that quickly changed to a small and devious smile when he thought of something.

“What’s the matter, jealous you didn’t get any action.”

Serena’s face quickly changed to the same shade of her hair color, the Red head blustering a little bit as she turned away from him.

“N-No! Shut your mouth!”

Andrew could only smile to himself at that, but his victory was short lived when he heard the sound of Unoma clearing her throat.

“Dear Master, given you stayed up all night, I can’t ask you to pay attention when I’m trying to teach you, but this is pretty important to our future endeavors on land. So if you please try your best to listen to me despite your situation, I would highly appreciate it… since, you know, I was pretty much left out and everything.”

Andrew felt that last statement was directed in a more passive aggressive manner, but he really couldn’t say anything given he knew of Unoma’s nature and desire for self-pleasure. Clearing his throat, Andrew opted to keep the conversation going.

“Sorry about that… anyway, not trying to sound like an idiot or anything, but what where we about to talk about? My mind is a little fuzzy right now.”

Unoma only let out a low sigh before she tapped her foot impatiently.

“We are currently going over about training you in regards to suppressing your power Dear Master. We will need to work quickly seeing as You’ll need to be able to do this as well as a master would in the span of three days. Understood?”

Andrew nodded his head at her before he managed to work himself into a sitting position.

“Got it. So… what do I need to do?”

Unoma, seeing as she had Andrews full attention, nodded her head once before she began explaining.

“Well, what we need to do is try to get you familiar with your power. See what you can feel of your limits. Normally we would have you try to exhaust yourself by using all of your mana, but we can’t do that seeing as even some of the simpler spells run the risk of you going out of control. Anything large scale would only result in a repeat of yesterday, and when you’re like that, Lab and I can’t act since the dissonance wrecks havoc on our empathetic link. Thankfully suppressing power isn’t hard to do by itself, it’s when you need to do it unconsciously all the time is when it turns into a real issue. Thankfully you seem to be doing this passably already. This tells me your used to holding yourself back often, this can be seen as a good or bad thing depending on how one looks at it. However, we need you to get to a point where your power isn’t leaking like it does now.”

Andrew nodded in understanding at the Silver haired Dark Mage.

“Alright. So I’m doing thus subconsciously, that’s a good start I suppose, but what do I need to do to make it where no one will jump me at the first opportunity.”

Lab walked up to her master and sat down next to him.

“Simple really. You’re gonna envision it. Like Unoma and I have explained to you before, magic is just as much about imagination as it is willpower and conceptualization. You need to try to find an image that works best for you to emulate the scenario you want to create.”

Andrew nodded again, this being familiar.

“Okay… so what you two do to help you with this? Gimme an example.”

Unoma actually cocked her head to the side curiously.

“An example of how I do it? Well… it’s been so long since I last had to think about it… but if I recall… I originally thought of it like a ring around a flowing cylinder. To suppress it completely I would… tighten the ring, to allow more usage of mana, I would loosen it. If I wanted all of it, I would simply remove the ring entirely. Of course, that was when I was still human, as of now, I don’t bother trying to regulate it.”

Andrew nodded at her explanation, but he couldn’t help but think of something else when her heard her analogy.

“So like a dick and a cock ring then. That makes sense.”

Unoma had to blink a few times before she actually started to think about it.

“Hum… never thought about it like that before… that makes a lot of sense though.”

Serena could only let out a low sigh.

“Leave it to this group to turn something magical into something sexual…”

Andrew only smiled at her before he brought his attention to Labareda.

“So what example do you have for me oh wise and powerful Demon lady?”

Lab poked his nose with her padded paw tip with a smug look on her face.

“I’m no demon dear master, but I’ll let it slide seeing as I’m quite content with your seed in my womb. In answer to the question though, I’ve known how to do it since I came into existence. I never had a need for visualization. And most of the time, I don’t even bother trying to hide it anyway.”

At that, Andrew became curious, the both of them having said similar things.

“Wait… so if neither one of you are trying to regulate it, why am I not feeling it?”

Unoma scooted up close to him before she tapped him on the chest.

“Because dear master, your mana capacity is far to large and the mana itself is thick. When your letting it all out like you do, it’s like someone is smothering us. As for why you don’t feel us, it’s because the world is thick with magic as is. All you really do when you try to sense it is pick it apart from each other really. The World Tyrants power is a foreign thing to this world, thus why everyone can feel you so easily when you use it. Well, it used to be at any rate, seeing as it seems to have seeped itself into the cracks of reality, it’s not quite so foreign anymore, but you get the gist of what I’m trying to say.”

Andrew could only nod in agreement and understanding.

“Alright then… since you explained all of that, I have a good idea of how I need to suppress myself. You guys will need to tell me if it works though, I’m not gonna have an idea if it is or not.”

Lab nodded knowingly at him.

“Just try to suppress is all you need to do. As long as you don’t try to let it out, everything should be good.”

Nodding in understanding, Andrew let out a low breath of air. Thinking back to the last time he tried to get in touch with his power, Andrew opted to go slowly, to take his time to feel his power. Just like when he had obtained is ax, Andrew could feel the energy in his… soul? Body? He still wasn’t sure exactly where he was feeling it from, but he couldn’t deny that it was familiar to him at this point. However, he tried to look at it a little more closely, to feel it like how he had tried to feel his inner emotions yesterday, only without going that far.

**‘Try to visualize it… that’s what they said right?’**

Taking it to heart, Andrew decided to do just that, to project an image onto his power. At first, he wasn’t sure what kind of image he could project into something like this, but then small things began to come to mind. About how he had heard how vast his power was in comparison, like an ocean. it was with that thought that he finally managed to grasp an image of what his power might be like. A deep and unknowably vast ocean. This seemed to root itself into his mind, which he figured was a good thing, but at the same time, it brought about its own complications. If his power was an ocean in his mind, how was he supposed to put a lid on it per-se? nothing as far as he knew existed that could be that big to cover such a large body. This is essentially what he spent what had to have been the next twenty or so minutes on, the sounds of the water around him along with some hustle and bustle from the crew working as white noise.

Eventually he simply sighed to himself and fell flat on his back, getting some curious stares from his team. Labareda leaned over him with a curious look in her eyes.

“Having problems?”

“Yeah. Weird question, how do you cover a body of water as large as the ocean?”

Unoma, Lab, and Serena all looked to each other with a perplexed look before Lab simply turned her attention back to him.

“You don’t. If something that large existed, it would be able to cover the world itself. There might be some magical means, but I hazard a guess that explaining that will do you no good.”

Huffing from his nose, Andrew sat himself back up.

“Yeah… I can’t think of anything natural that could cover something that big.”

Unoma leaned over onto his shoulder with a look of concentration on her face.

“True enough. However, its good to see that you have a good scope of what it is you need to think about. It’s a pity that it just so happens to be something so massive.”

Andrew looked to her for a moment before he smiled with a playful grin.

“A pity it’s so massive? Then what was the point of making my cock so big?”

Unoma looked down at him with a chuckle before she brought her hand to his pants and gripped his limp dick.

“ _This_ could actually do to be bigger in my opinion.”

“Jesus woman, do want a fucking python to fall out of my pants at some point?”

Serena didn’t let them get any further with that before she spoke up.

“Can we get off the sex stuff for the time being? Let’s try to focus on the important things right now.”

The other three looked to the twin tail before they could only agree with her. Andrew opted to look at her for a moment before he opted to point something out that had been bothering him for a bit.

“I know you guys are responsible in your own right, but if all of you are up here, who’s keeping an eye on Aruma?”

Lab lay down next to Andrew, her eyes up into the somewhat cloudy sky.

“The elf is looking after her right now. She said she wanted to, and since you trust her enough, I let her.”

“I see… makes sense…”

With the conversation having run its course and Andrew having gotten a small mental break, he opted to go back to trying to figure out how to suppress his power. For the next hour or so, he tried to make some headway with some ideas that came to mind, however Unoma and Labareda said they only noticed small changes in his power, thus leaving him at a conundrum. It wasn’t until another hour later when he finally opted to give up. In one part that he had been thinking about it for too long and that he was tired from getting no sleep. The other was that Jonathan had come up on deck and he had actually wanted to practice fighting him again. Something Jonathan had been more then eager to do. However, the result was pretty much the same when they sparred, though Andrew had to admit that he may have gotten a tiny bit more reactive to Jonathan then he had been yesterday. Though that thought didn’t save him from tired muscles and aching joints.

After having gotten done with that, Andrew opted to stay out of the way of the crew by laying on the bow again, simply staring up into the sky with nothing much occupying his mind. Everyone else had gone off to do other things for the time being, leaving him there with naught but his thoughts. That is until the sound of hoof on wood caught his attention and forced him to look and see the Captain walking toward him.

“Oh, hey Captain. Your looking quite lovely today.”

Kanneth smiled at his flattery, the Hakutaku staring down at him while he simply lay there.

“Hello Andrew. I take it the training is giving you some issues?”

“Eh, a little bit. We still have a few days though, so I’ll try to work something out by then. Where I come from, my job pretty much forced me to find resolutions to problems that no one else could come up with. Though I will admit magic based things are a first for me. But I digress, did you need something from me?”

Kanneth, deciding that staring down at him from up high was somewhat rude, opted to sit down next to him.

“Not much, I was actually hoping to talk with you about the Dragon Turtle you killed.”

Feeling that it would be rude to keep simply laying there, Andrew sat himself back up with some effort and a few groans.

“Ugh… okay, what about it?”

“Did you have any plans on what you where going to do with it?”

Andrew shook his head at her.

“Uhhhhhh… no, not really. It’s not something I considered important at the moment, but since you bring it up, it will be something of an issue when we do get to land. I take it you wanting to talk about it means you wanted something to do with it?”

Kanneth simply chuckled.

“Quick as ever to get to the point I see… yes, I was actually hoping you would sell it to me if you had no use for it.”

Andrew cocked his head to the side curiously, but at the same time, he opted to be cautious about business like this.

“Maybe… I mean, you are right, I don’t have a use for it. But I’m curious. What are you willing to offer for it?”

Kanneth nodded at him.

“A fair amount of money for it. Any dragon, even those of a subspecies, sells for a fair amount on the market.”

“How much are we talking here?”

“A Dragon turtle of that size and age would put it at a rank of young adult. Not quite at the prime of its life, but still developed enough to get decent material out of it. Depending on who buys the materials, we could be looking at a sum of well over seven to eight hundred gold. Though many things are to be considered when it comes to buying and selling of dragon parts. Granted even at a low sum you would still be able to get quite a bit out of it.”

Andrew, not used to market prices, tried his best to look neutral, though it wasn’t very hard considering he wasn’t aware if that was a large sum or not.

“Alright… if I sold it to you, how much of that would actually go into my pocket?”

Kanneth had a quick reply to that.

“It depends really. If you wanted money now, I could give you a lump sum of two hundred. But if your willing to wait a week or two, I could give you double that. The kill was clean and the body is in very good condition after all, so you don’t have to worry about bad parts. I’ve also taken the liberty of getting the crew to cut some sigils of preservation into its body, which should keep it fresh for a week or two.”

Andrew let a low hum escape his lips.

“I really don’t know if I’ll be able to wait a week… but only getting twenty percent of the profit seems like a serious loss…”

Kanneth nodded in agreement.

“For you yes, but if your willing to come back, I can have more of it prepared for you.”

“I don’t know if I will or not is the issue… I’ll have to think about it for a bit.”

Kanneth nodded in understanding.

“That’s fine. You’ll have a few days to decide on it.”

“Thanks.” Was all he said before he watched her get up and walk off, leaving him with yet another thing to think about.

**‘Blegh… responsibility keeps piling up… I think I’ll go and see Imh’ege to sooth these poor muscles of mine.’**

With a lecherous smile on his face and a growing erection, Andrew did just that, putting the thought to the back of his mind.

After that was two days of sleeping, training, suppressing power, and fucking when he got the chance to, though not necessarily in that order. Despite all that time though, Andrew didn’t feel any closer to getting his power under control, though he was willing to admit that he thought his training was starting to show result. At least he was starting to react now and not just standing there like a log. Still didn’t help that he kept getting pummeled. He also had decided to sell the Dragon Turtle he had killed to the Captain. Thankfully she was willing to give him a good amount plus free rides on her ship in the future if he ever needed transport on the open ocean. But sadly it still didn’t solve the main issue of his power.

Currently leaning against one of the masts of the ship, Andrew only let out a low sigh before he let out an equally low groan.

“Ugggggggggghhhhhhhhh… at this rate we’ll have to stay out on the water until I figure this out. That or we get dropped off away from civilization or something.”

Serena shook her head at him, her vaguely creepy katana in her hands as she did maintenance on it.

“That’s a temporary solution at best. We still have to get to Dragonia right? We’ll run into the same issue if you put it off. Not to mention anybody we run into on our way there.”

Labareda leaned against her master with a hum on her lips.

“She’s right. You’re just going to have to try as hard as you can today.”

“But I have been Lab. Nothing I’m doing is having any lasting effect. I didn’t think trying to suppress power would be this hard.”

Labareda only shook her head.

“Hard yes, but the part that seems to be giving you issue is the concept of visualization. Sadly, I can’t help you with that.”

Letting out yet another sigh within five minutes of each other, Andrew only grumbled under his breath before he opted to start trying again.

“Is it really that important for him to learn it though?”

The sound of an unfamiliar voice in the conversation caused everyone present to turn and look at the speaker. That speaker being Fenella while also being accompanied by Sarya. Andrew could only give them both a somewhat perplexed look.

“Uh… yeah? Kinda? As far as I know, anybody will be able to tell who I am and try to kill me.”

“Ummmmm… what if I told you that that might **not** be the case?” Sarya exclaimed with a sheepish look on her face.

Andrew, Serena, and Labareda looked at her dumbly for a moment before they all exclaimed in a unified voice.

“What?”

“It pretty much slipped my mind since hardly anybody tends to think about them or even like them, but what if I told you that their where actually people who willingly take Oda’s taint into their bodies?”

Labareda responded to that one with a none-to-kind remark.

“Then I would say they’re fucking insane. Who willingly does that?”

Sarya pointed to Lab.

“Well, the Montre Noire are kinda insane seeing as they actually do that.”

Andrew, actually recognizing the name to be French and to mean ‘black watch’ could only be surprised at the fact of a language like French even being spoken. If he didn’t know any better, he would have called it out for sounding like something a fan fiction writer would pull out of nowhere to sound cool.

Author: (;A;)

Sarya started speaking again, so he brought his attention back to her.

“I forgot about them, but the Noire have been around for about two to three hundred years studying and trying to control the taint of Oda through the world. Nobody knows why, but they seem kinda crazy and they have been caught doing a lot of shady stuff in the past. The biggest thing I remembered though was that a lot of them would put the taint in their bodies and give off the same kind of feeling you do. So, rather then try to repress your power, maybe you can pass yourself off as a member of the Montre Noire?”

Andrew thought about it for a bit, his mind trying to think of any pros and cons that went with this idea. Labareda though opted to speak up on it with her own thoughts.

“I’m not sure if that’s much better. It doesn’t sound like this group is well liked and the stigma that comes from what they do sounds like something that should be avoided.”

Serena looked to Lab with a contemplative look on her face.

“True, but it sounds better then being branded the world tyrant himself.”

Lab couldn’t quite argue that, but before she could begin offering a counter, Andrew spoke up.

“It sounds like an idea to fall back on at least. We don’t know much about them, but it sounds like something we can use if I don’t get this power situation under control by tomorrow.”

Labareda only let out a low sigh.

“Very well. It doesn’t sound like a great one, but we’ll simply have to wait and see. Other then that, you probably should go ahead and take a break. I’m going to go below deck to check on Unoma and Aruma. Serena, you keep with master and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”

Andrew could only look at her with some slight disagreement on his face.

“Oh come on, it’s been a few days. I think I’ve shown some level of restraint.”

Lab simply gave him a ‘oh really’ kind of look before she simply stood up and walked off, leaving Andrew to simply sigh at her disregard for his word. Sarya and Fenella, seeing that they no longer had anything to do here, also opted to go ahead and walk off. This left Andrew and Serena by themselves, something not really minded seeing as Serena was still performing maintenance on her katana. However, the act of her working on said Katana got Andrew thinking to his conversation he had with Sarya some days back along with his promise to talk with Serena as well. He hadn’t been trying to put it off, but he had also been somewhat dreading telling her about it. He knew it wasn’t good to not tell her, but his mind had been filled with other things for the past few days. However, Andrew could quickly see that he had a prime opportunity to talk with her right now.

Letting a small sigh come from his mouth, Andrew brought his attention to the red-headed twin-tail and spoke up, albeit more nervously then he would have liked.

“Hey… Serena… do you happen to remember what we talked about a few days ago?”

Serena stopped what she was doing for a moment, trying to recall what exactly he may have been talking about, it quickly came to mind though, and she looked over at him.

“Ah… yeah. You said you needed to talk to me about something right?”

Andrew nodded at her.

“Yeah… I think now is a good time for it.”

For a moment or two, the both of them sat there, Serena writing for Andrew to start talking while Andrew tried to mentally come up with the best way to start what was no doubt going to be a messy conversation. However, the longer he took, the more nervous Serena started to become, the woman feeling the same levels of embarrassment as when he had told her about this. Thankfully they didn’t need to wait long as Andrew came up with what he considered the best start.

“Alright… let me start this off with a question. Have you noticed yourself… acting in a different manner as of late? In the last month actually? Maybe even two to three weeks ago?”

Serena had to think about that for a moment, her mind not quite sure what Andrew meant when he was talking about acting odd. However, the things she would occasionally think along with the way her mind would change at the drop of a hat came to mind quickly, thus allowing her an answer.

“Uh… yeah… actually. Now that you mention it, it has been happening to me a lot more as of late… especially when…. Never mind… wait, do you know something about it?”

Andrew couldn’t help but feel dread at that question, in one part because yes he did know, and the other in part that he now was obligated to answer her.

“Ah… yeah actually. I do know. Truth be told, someone else actually told me the reason behind it. I had had an idea of what it was, but it wasn’t until they told me that I could be grounded in my theory.”

Serena stopped her work on her katana, her attention now on Andrew and on what he was about to say. Andrew was mentally dreading this next part, but he simply enforced himself to tell her and to do his best to deal with the aftermath when it came.

“So… um… remember that talk we had some time back in the shadow labyrinth? The history lesson that Sarya shared with is?”

Serena, somewhat confused, only answered.

“Yeah.”

“Do you recall the part about Mamono.”

Serena only nodded again.

“Yeah. Mamono are like what Lab, Unoma, Sarya and pretty much everyone on the blissful tide are right? Also something about being kinda dick hungry or something.”

Andrew mentally wanted to stop here and now, but deep down, he knew the conversation was too far along to stop. So he opted to be as blunt as possible so as not to cause any confusion with any vagueness he might try to insert into an explanation.

“Yeah. Kinda right. So, turns out you’re turning into a mamono called a Cursed Sword. Reason being because of the sword you picked up in the Labyrinth. Imma go ahead and say that the transformation can’t be stopped at this point, and you have another month before you’re fully converted.”

For a moment, it was as if everything stood still. Serena could only blink, her mind trying to process what it was that had just come out of Andrews mouth while the male himself expected something savage or angry to come from Serena’s lips or for her to actually try to hit him. This went on for a moment before, not surprisingly, Serena was the first to break the momentary quiet.

“I… feel like I should be getting angry or surprised… or… something. I really should.”

“It might not have set in just yet.”

Serena nodded at him, what he was saying sound reasonable. It almost didn’t feel real to her at the moment, so she opted to keep talking.

“And… your saying this…” Serena held her blade up to indicate what ‘this’ was. “Is the cause of what’s happening to me?”

Andrew only nodded at her.

“Yes. Apparently it’s slowly been changing you.”

The red head looked to Andrew before she looked back down at the somewhat grotesque weapon. Despite the oddity of it, Serena had come to like the thing, the blade proving sharper then any she could remember having while feeling like a perfect fit for her. However, now she wasn’t sure what to think of it. Putting the weapon down on the deck next to her, Serena simply crossed her legs while she looked out across the deck with a blank expression on her face. Andrew was actually starting to feel kinda worried and maybe freaked out. He was more expecting her to get angry or violent. Not this… somber acceptance. For a few moments, nothing was said, but that changed when Andrew once again dared to speak up.

“Are… you okay? You seem awfully calm about all of this.”

Serena didn’t turn to look at him, but she did reply.

“I don’t know actually. I had the feeling that _something_ had been changing in me a while ago. I just wasn’t sure what it had been. Now I do know, and I now know there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

Turning to look at Andrew, Serena’s expression was a varied mix of several things, leaving her with a complicated expression on her face.

“So… am I going to become… what? Some monster whore or something? Am I going to start seeking out men to sate myself? Have the feelings I’ve had for a while now actually belong to me, or to this new nature of mine? What… happens to me at this point?”

Despite the lack of anger, it was easy to see that Serena was both scared and confused, her tone shifting between the emotions as she spoke. Andrew felt almost hurt seeing her like this, but he could only tell her the truth on the matter.

“I… I don’t have any real answers for you seeing as I’m not going through what you are right now. But, Sarya tells me that she really didn’t change all that much when she got turned. The only thing she said changed was that she gets really horny easily and that she got more powerful.”

“I…see…”

For a moment, she looked a dash more reassured with his words, but she simply looked away again to stare out at the deck, her mind obviously on this current development. Andrew still felt hurt seeing her like this. Serena was a headstrong woman, and seeing her look defeated like this only added to the empathy he felt for her.

“Hey… Serena… I know your thinking a lot right now… but I just wanna say… I’ll help you in any way I can. I promise you that if it’s in my power, I’ll do anything to help you.”

Serena looked over at him, a small smile on her face, though to Andrew, it looked rather sad.

“Thanks… I… I think I’m going to go below deck. I need to think about this for a bit…”

Watching her stand up, Andrew watched her pick up her sword and strap it back to her waist, the girl walking off to leave Andrew with a complicated feeling of remorse and helplessness. Labareda, who had made her way back up to deck, walked past Serena on her way to sit with him. Though the familiar stopped to look at the girl as she walked past, the twintails downcast expression not something she was used to seeing. Watching her disappear behind the door to below deck, Lab turned back around and made her way back to Andrew, a questioning look on her face.

“I wasn’t even gone for five minutes, what did you do to that poor girl?”

Met with an accusation he hadn’t been expecting, Andrew was about to try to defend himself when it hit him that she wasn’t wrong in her implication. Letting out s low sigh followed by a weary sounding groan, Andrew lay down on the deck and looked up at the sky.

“I told her what was happening to her.”

Labareda cocked her head to the side in some confusion.

“You told her about what now? Wait, you mean about how she seems to be changing into a denizen of this world like me and Unoma?”

“Yeah. On that note, why didn’t you guys say anything about it to her? I only found out about it because Sarya told me about it.”

Labareda nodded her head at getting an answer to a question she was going to ask. She then decided to sit down beside her master.

“Me nor Unoma said anything about it because we figured it wouldn’t have been all that important. The pros to her transformation far outweighed the cons, if she even has any. However, I do understand that humans are not delighted at the fact of such things happening to them. I actually was going to tell her at some point, just later was all.”

Cocking his head to the side in some confusion, Andrew opted to ask.

“Why wait?”

“Because further along in her change would have had more visible side effects while helping to cement her mental state. It would have been obvious that she was changing yes, but it would have been equally obvious that she would have been more aware of how in control of her emotions she truly was. At this point I feel it would do more harm then good in that she was still unaware of the effects. Now that she has been made aware, she will begin to question her emotions and thoughts, wondering if they where truly her own.”

“But Sarya told me that the effects where really only limited to increased libido and power.”

Lab leaned into her masters shoulder.

“And she would be right. But think about it this way, if you where suddenly made aware of a fact that you where being changed in any way, how willing would you be to believe it?”

Andrew thought about it for a moment before he answered.

“Truth be told, I would believe that person quite readily actually. I went along with your deal the first time we met and I didn’t really think all to much about it afterward.”

“True enough, but I know your attentive enough to be aware of what it is I’m saying. I also get the feeling you kinda just go with the flow on many things, thus why you end up in the situations that you do.”

Andrew laughed sheepishly at that, the constant reminder further cementing the facts. Labareda only huffed before she moved her head from Andrews shoulder, to his lap.

“Well, regardless, it’s done now. We should keep a close eye on Serena for the time being to try to help her along as best we can. Until then, it would be best for you to keep practicing. Leave our lovable redhead to me and Unoma.”

Andrew nodded at her, understanding what it was she was saying. Knowing that there wasn’t much else he could do at this point, Andrew put his break on hold and got back to his suppression training.

Meanwhile, aforementioned redhead had made her way back down to the cabin, still lost in thought over what she had heard. As she entered the room, she noticed that Unoma was currently laying next to Aruma, the young girl still asleep while the Dark Mage held her close. She didn’t need to question if she was awake or not as a moment later the sound of Unomas voice rang out.

“Oh? Is that you Serena? Coming to check up on her or have you come to relive me for a moment?”

Serena took a seat on the couch, only half listening to the mage woman.

“Sorta… I’m just here I suppose…”

Unoma worked herself to a sitting position before she looked at the swordwoman.

“I see… well, if you don’t mind, I’m going to head up to the deck for a moment to check up on Dear Master. If you would be a love and keep an eye on Aruma for me. Don’t worry about her waking up though, she did a little while ago and I managed to feed and bath her before she went right back to sleep.”

“Alright… I’ll keep an eye on her…”

The answer came somewhat in a dismal tone, something the silver haired mage did not miss. She opted to not say anything about it though, the woman figuring that she would get an answer from Andrew or Lab first. However, as she began making her way to the door, the sound of Serena asking a rather unusual question beckoned her to stop.

“Hey… Unoma.”

Turning to look, Unoma responded in kind.

“Yes?”

“Do you… love Andrew?”

Of all the things she would have expected, a question of her feelings for her master had not even been on that list. However, she responded without hesitation.

“If I was to think on it for a moment, then I would probably respond yes. Though it’s not quite the possessive love that Labareda has, I do care for him and wish for his attention.”

Serena wasn’t sure if what she heard was the thing she needed to hear, thus she continued questioning.

“Do you know if it’s real though? I mean, you said yourself at some point that you’ve been… changed into something. A mamono, are you sure it’s not a result from that?”

Unoma could be called lazy, she could be called a hedonist in her past life, but she was far from anything connoting the word ‘idiotic’ in it. It was easy to see for her that someone had told Serena what was going on with her. She could only guess Sarya or someone else who had been aware, but she opted to answer for her.

“My emotions are my own regardless of what may or may not have been done to me in my many years alive. Of course, this change in me just makes me more of what I am then when I was human. Your not aware of this, but I used to be as bad as some warlords back in my day when it came to vices. I still am technically, but I’m actually more subdued then I used to be.”

“You know… I can actually see that.”

Unoma simply smiled at her.

“Did that answer your question?”

Serena thought about it for a moment before she let out a small sigh.

“Maybe? I dunno… I think I need to ponder on it more…”

“Well, ponder as much as you want. Your thoughts and your ideas are your own to see and shape as you wish. Though do recall that communication exists for a reason.”

With that, Unoma made her way out the door, leaving the redhead to ponder on that.

“Thoughts are my own…” she said before she lay down to think more on herself and her changes.

After that, the rest of the day proceeded without issue, though Andrew did get invited to the captains quarters at one point in the night, though that’s something for another time. The next day was spent making sure everyone was ready for landfall, Andrew having done everything he could to suppress himself, but not having been able to actually do it in the allotted time. Thus it was decided that they would simply need to adopt the idea that they had come up with yesterday. Eventually though, it was simply a waiting game, though Kanneth had assured them that they would be getting to town mid-day. Andrew, who was currently on deck by himself as his party was down below getting things in order, felt a certain eagerness about visiting this place, his childhood rearing it’s head from deep in his soul at the advent of a town in a fantasy world. It had been almost a month since he got here in this world, and in all that time he had spent it down in a musty dungeon, thus this would be a very nice change of pace. Looking up into the sky to admire the clear azure of the world above him, Andrew couldn’t help but notice a small dot on the horizon. It was tiny, but he could make out just the vaguest form of bird like wings.

He thought it might have been Tannath. But then he recalled that she was currently on one of the masts looking out for things such as this. With that thought in his head, Andrew turned to call out to said albatross harpy.

“Hey, Tan. I see something on the horizon there.”

“It’s alright. I already saw it before you did. It’s not anything to worry about. Its one of Gwents port scouts.”

Andrew only had a vague idea of what a port scout was from the name. However, seeing as Tannath wasn’t worried, he opted not to worry about it either.

“Does that mean we’re close to Gwent at this point?”

“Yes, if I flew there right now, it would only take me twenty minutes. Meaning we are less then an hour away from Gwent itself. Do you mind going to inform your group? I’ll let the captain know myself.”

Andrew nodded at her.

“Sure thing.”

Whirling himself around, Andrew quickly made his way down below deck, passing Jonathan on the way to his room and giving the gentleman a quick rundown of the time frame for arrival. After that was done, he then made his way to the room and made his way inside. It should be said however, that Andrew did not knock, just as he was used to doing, thus when he opened the door, he was pricy to see Unoma currently with the upper half of her outfit missing from her person while she looked to be in the process of either picking it up or putting it down. He wasn’t sure, she had stopped in the middle of what she was doing in lieu of the door opening. Andrew found his eyes zeroing in on her exposed breasts, the weight and size of her tits giving them that wonderful large titty sag that he couldn’t help but want to fondle when she had them exposed.

Smiling lewdly, Andrew crossed his arms.

“Oh? Were you looking to entice me when I came back? Cause if so, I’ll be more then happy to oblige.”

Unoma, only momentarily caught unaware, came back to the situation when Andrew spoke up, a smile of her own stretching across her lips.

“Odd as it is of me to say, that wasn’t my intent. I actually just got out of the shower with Aruma. The poor girl managed to stay awake long enough to do that. Sadly she fell back to sleep when she came back in here.”

Looking to the side, Andrew could see that Aruma was currently laying on the bed, though she wasn’t alone in that Serena was currently dressing the unconscious girl. Upon seeing the familiar twin tails of the swordwoman, Andrew felt a slight pang in his chest. She didn’t look much better then she did yesterday, Serena having forgone any conversation last night and keeping her silent vigil well into the morning. Andrew was sure he hadn’t heard a word out of her, and he felt that it would be some time before she spoke. She didn’t look much better either, some bags under her eyes and expression looking pitiful. There wasn’t much he could do about it though seeing as he had offered to listen and she had yet to take him up on it. The sounds of something shuffling off to the side caught his attention and diverted him away from his thoughts about Serena. That thing being Labareda as she stuffed Andrews military boots into a bag much to small to hold them. However, they seemed to vanish into it without any issue, leaving Andrew to wonder if it wasn’t some kind of bag of holding. Though he was more curious about how or where she even got a bag like that.

His staring only persisted for a moment longer before Lab turned around to look at him.

“Hello master. Did you come running when you felt Unoma had taken her clothes off?”

Simply rolling his eyes at that, Andrew shook his head.

“No, though have no doubt that If I was able to detect you or her undressing, I would be running. The reason I’m down here as that Tannath informs me that we should hit Gwent under the hour. I was sent down here to let you all know along with Jonathan’s crew.”

Unoma, who pulled up the rest of the dress to cover her upper body, let out a content huff.

“I see. That’s good to know, I look forward to seeing what all has changed in the past fourteen hundred years. But before that, do we have everything?”

Labareda lifted the bag in her paws.

“It’s all in here. Money, what little clothing we have, and a few things of food that Fenella was willing to part with.”

Andrew nodded his head.

“Awesome. Other then that, we need to think about what to do with Aruma.”

Serena, having been dressing said girl while everyone else had been chatting, put on the last of the girls attire before she spoke up.

“We should carry her. I’ll volunteer to do it first seeing as you guys will probably have to handle things like lodging and figuring out what we need to do.”

Andrew nodded at her.

“Makes sense. We’ll take turns carrying her around, but you do bring up a good point. Our first order of business will be to discover some lodging, after that we’ll try to form some kind of plan. Agreed?”

Everyone nodded with no objections to be found in that logic. After making one more sweep of the living space, everyone’s bags in hand before clearing out of the room, Andrew insisting on being off the deck and ready to get started on what needed to be done when they got there. As he and the group began making its way out the door, he couldn’t help but notice that Jonathan was still out in the hall, as if he had been waiting for him to come back out. Andrew was pretty much spot on when Jonathan noticed him and called out to the only other male in the vicinity.

“Ah… Andrew, do you mind if I have a word with you in private?”

Curious, Andrew turned to look at Labareda and the rest to indicate for them to go ahead and head on up. However, Lab simply gave him a look before she looked to Jonathan.

“What do you need to talk with my Master about?”

Jonathan didn’t get the chance to answer before Andrew spoke up.

“It’s fine Lab. It’s probably nothing all that important anyway. It probably won’t even be that long, right Jonathan?”

The blonde simply nodded.

“No, it shouldn’t take that long at all.”

Lab looked between the two of them for a moment before she simply sighed and relented.

“Very well. I trust that nothing will happen. We’ll be waiting on the deck for you Master, don’t dawdle please.”

With that out of the way, Andrew watched everyone make there way down the hall, allowing him to bring his attention to Jonathan.

“So, what do you need to talk about?”

For a moment, Jonathan didn’t say anything, but the look on his face looked both guilty and nervous. Andrew didn’t like where this might be going with an expression like that, but he decided not to talk. His patience was rewarded when Jonathan finally spoke up.

“Do you remember me telling you about how I’m part of a hero’s guild of sorts?”

“Yup.”

“And you do remember when I said that me and my group had gone to the shadow labyrinth to investigate a rumored dark power there right?”

“I do recall this being mentioned at one point, yes.”

Jonathan let out a low sigh, as if to steel himself for what he was going to say next.

“Alright… well, seeing as I’m one of the few people in the world who is meant to deal with things relating to Oda and his spawn, I’m sure you’re aware that… I’m going to need to report the things that happened in the labyrinth.”

It took Andrew a moment to realize what it was Jonathan was getting at, but then it hit him.

“Ahhhhhhhh… hum… yeah… that… huh… yeah. That’s going to be a problem.”

Jonathan nodded his head.

“Yes, I figured that when I do this, it would bring you a great deal of problems.”

Andrew grimaced at the absolute in that statement.

“So… ah… I guess I can’t ask you to fudge your findings? Maybe not tell them about me?”

“I… wouldn’t feel right about it. I’m honor bound to report things pertaining to Oda and his power like all other hero’s are meant to do. I do apologize about it. That’s why I’m letting you know about it now rather then not at all.”

Andrew nodded at him, understanding that this was Jonathan’s job after all.

“Well… you’re doing me a solid by telling me about it. So, how long do you reckon I’ll have before people start looking for me?”

“I won’t give the report immediately. Though we are expected to give it quickly, I might be able to stall on it for about a week. Any more then that though and I might get into some serious trouble with the Hero’s association. I’ll also see about downplaying your power if I can, though I won’t make any promises on that.”

Andrew nodded at him.

“That’s helpful. Me and the girls will try to be gone before then. But if worse comes to worse, I’ll try to work something out on my own. Thanks for doing this for me though, I know you are probably breaking some rules doing this after all.”

Jonathan only smiled at him.

“It’s alright. I know you for who you are and not for what your power is defined as, so I don’t harbor any ill intent toward you. Sadly, I know many won’t see you in the same light.”

“Tell me about it…”

Was all he said before Andrew let out yet another sigh.

“Well, I guess that’s how it goes. I’m sure we’ll be fine though. Anyway, I’m going to go ahead and head up on deck. I’ll see you up there, unless you need my help with Morgana?”

“No, I’ll be fine with her myself, this not being the first time I’ve had to deal with this.”

With that out of his mouth, Andrew said one more farewell before he made his way to the stairs. But just as he was about to make his ascent up said stairs, he felt the pull of something on his leg for a moment before he felt like a fish be hauled through the air on a line. The next thing he knew and he was staring into the multi-iris visage of one Kraken girl while he was being held up in the air by one of her powerful tentacles.

Not even missing a beat, Andrew smiled and spoke.

“Hey there Imh’ege.”

A moment later and Andrew felt himself be flipped around and let down to the ground in front of said Kraken. She was looking up at him with a bit of a pouty look on her face.

“Leaving? Leaving! Andrew leaving Imh’ege all alone! Alone! Even after so much fun time!”

Andrew chuckled at that. In the last few days, every time he would have a sparring session with Jonathan, he would almost immediately come down to the bilge to get healed by the violet haired seafarer. And about ninety nine percent of the time it would result in him having sex with the Kraken. Though he couldn’t be faulted in that he had become addicted to her tentacles and the sensation they brought.

“I’m sorry Imh’ege, but you knew that I wouldn’t be around on the ship forever right? Hell, we got to spend more time together then I thought we would What with the captain having to slow us down for the last few days. Besides, If I’m ever back to Gwent, then I’ll be sure to look up you guys from the blissful tide. You and the crew have become my favorite boat by far after all.”

Truthfully it had been the only boat, but he wasn’t necessarily lying about this being his favorite crew after all. For a moment, the Kraken only stared at him with a pouty look on her face. Andrew found it cute despite how she was feeling and moved his hands to her face, where he then grabbed her cheeks and gently squeezed them.

“Don’t be so glum. I’m sure I’ll see you again some day soonish. You’ll just have to be patient is all.”

The Kraken tried to maintain her air of cute anger, but the feeling of his hands on her cheeks left her with a warm and fuzzy feeling in her body that repelled any form of anger, forcing her to smile up at him with a content look following after.

“Is true. Imh’ege has seen, thus Imh’ege know. Coming soon? Coming soon! Imh’ege will look forward to day of return. Must be careful. World seeks the tyrant, and the tyrant seeks the tyrant.”

Andrew wasn’t sure what she was on about with that little bit of info, but he figured it had something to do with her future seeing madness. Getting one more gentle squish of her cheeks in, Andrew bade the girl farewell while keeping her words in mind for later. When he finally did manage to make it to the deck, Lab gave him a chastising look, but didn’t seem to dwell on it more then that. This left Andrew the freedom to look in the direction the ship was heading, and unlike the last time he was up here, he could see land on the horizon followed by a town in the distance. Feeling excitement well up in him, Andrew made his way to the bow of the ship to try to get a better look. The first thing noticeable about the distance was the gulls flying overhead, though not all of them where of the animal variety. Andrew could see harpies and other winged creatures in the air above the town, either taking flight or coming to roost, the air a vast array of activity. But more then that was the number of ships lined up where he could see, the rolling of the waves causing them to gently bob up and down on the clear ocean waters. The town itself looked like what one would expect from a harbor town, bustling with people, ships, the gray stone of the many buildings that indicated the town itself. Andrew looked to the area around the town, the rolling of green hills behind looking for all intents like a landscape painting.

It was a wonderful sight to behold, one Andrew appreciated seeing as the last time he viewed anything like it was when he was back home on earth. However, Andrew opted to get himself back under control and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He then made his way back to the group, who all also looked equally impressed with the town itself. Unoma looked out at the town with a hint of nostalgia on her face.

“It’s been a long time since I last interacted with civilization. I’m actually looking forward to it.”

Labareda smiled at the Dark Witch, the demons smile looking smug.

“Did you ever interact with people before you sealed yourself away for fourteen hundred years?”

Unoma thought about it for a moment before she simply shrugged her shoulders.

“Eh, not really.”

Andrew chuckled at the two of them, but his attention went to Serena, the girl looking less like a bag of depression and more like the girl she normally was, the sight of the town seemingly filling her with some emotion and understanding.

“I wonder if I’ll regain more of my memories here…”

Andrew nodded at her.

“Who’s to say? All I know is that we finally got here.”

No one could disagree with him on that. After that, nothing but small talk was made for the last bit of the trip, though they where joined by Jonathan and his group, Morgana looking as if she would be ill while Sarya could worry about Aruma. Eventually though, they did dock at port, the whole process going awfully smoothly, though the reactions from people on the pier who saw the dead Dragon turtle where filled with nothing but admiration and disbelief. As for the people themselves, Andrew could see that there were a variety of them out and about, most of them human looking, but he could also see a good majority of them were mamono as well. With all the admiring going on, Andrew only jolted out of it when he felt the boat come to a stop followed by the crew quickly dropping a plank from the side of the boat onto the pier. Kanneth walked up to the group and gave them a smile of her lips followed by a small bow.

“Despite one or two hiccups on our journey, you can see we have all safely arrived… albeit a few days behind schedule. I do apologize for that.”

Jonathan only shook his head at her.

“It fine captain. I don’t blame you for it.”

Andrew could only agree with him.

“Likewise. You can’t predict everything after all. If I ever need to go out on the water, I’ll be sure to come looking for the crew of the blissful tide.”

With that out of the way, there were a few more farewell before everyone who wasn’t the crew departed (Morgana being a lot faster then the rest of them upon debarking).

Jonathan and his group where the first off the boat followed by Andrew’s group. It wasn’t until they where off the boat and walking away from the pier that Jonathan stopped, and turned to Andrew.

“Well… it has been a fun few weeks with you Andrew, but I do believe this is where we must part ways.”

Andrew couldn’t help but feel sad at those words.

“Ah… yeah… I guess you’re right on that. Can’t stay together forever can we?”

“Very true. Me and my group will be heading for an inn called the ‘Bear Arms’. It’s the usual Inn my group stays at here in Gwent, so if you need us, you can find us there for the next week.”

Andrew nodded at him.

“Got it. Me and my group will try to find a place to stay, get a map, maybe some provisions followed by information before we start making our way to Dragonia. Preferably all within the next few days or so. I don’t wanna waste any time in getting Aruma fixed up since I get the feeling this won’t be a short trip.”

Sarya spoke up at that.

“That makes sense. A little helpful tip from one traveling group to another. Gwent has a ton of people coming and going from all around. You might be able to hitch a ride up north to Dragonia if you’re lucky. Otherwise you might wanna buy some camping supplies as well.”

Andrew nodded once again, not having actually thought about that.

“Good call. I’ll see what we can do. In the meantime though, I wish you guys good luck in your future endeavors along with the chance we might see each other again some day.”

Jonathan smiled at him.

“Let us hope.”

And with that, all goodbyes had been said, allowing Jonathan, Sarya, and Morgana to walk away into the growing crowd. Andrew let out a low sigh before he turned to his own group.

“Welp. An inn won’t find itself, lets get to it.”

With that said, the group began its search for an inn. A np ordeal that didn’t take all that much time nor effort based on the fact that a sport city like Gwent had a multitude of inns. However, as that search had transpired, Andrew had been met with a number of looks from many different people. Many of them ranging from uncomfortable to neutral, but none of them being pleasant. Aruma received pitying looks of her own, but it all eventually came to an end after an hour of looking. They had managed to find some place that was serviceable for their needs.

It was called the Boars Rump, an unusual name in of itself especially since the owner was some kind of elf. With a name like that, Andrew could only surmise that it had been owned by an orc. The irony was not lost on him. Thankfully the inn keeper was more neutral when Andrew had purchased a large room for the next few days, so it was a small blessing in of itself. They had managed to get a room for large groups thankfully, so there were enough beds to work with, allowing everyone to get settled down and giving Aruma a bed of her own to sleep in. Andrew, sitting down on a plain wooden chair, looked to everyone in the room, who had all taken their own respective seats on beds, or in Serena’s case, leaning against the only wardrobe.

Seeing that he had everyone’s attention, Andrew cleared his throat.

“Alright then. Since we now have our base of operations for the next few days, we need to go ahead and decide on what the next course of action is. I vote we start collecting provisions for our journey along with camping supplies. After that, information in regard to Dragonia itself.”

Unoma, who had lain down on one of the beds, propped herself up on her elbow as she looked to Andrew.

“That makes a fair amount of sense. However, I think it would be best if you remained here Dear master.”

Serena looked at the dark witch curiously, but Labareda only nodded in agreement along with Andrew.

“That would probably be best for the time being.”

However, Serena wasn’t sure what exactly they were on about, thankfully she knew if she asked, they would be more then willing to divulge answers for her.

“Uh… why is that exactly?”

Labareda, who was used to someone in this group asking a question about something, only looked to the other redhead.

“I’m sure you noticed the stares and the uncomfortable feeling people had when they where around Master, did you not?”

“Ah.”

Serena was suddenly not so mystified.

Andrew only laughed under his breath as he looked back from Serena to Labareda.

“Yup. I’m going to have to ask you guys to go about and get everything that we need ready. For the time being, I’ll stay here and look after Aruma. I take it that you guys know what we might need without me saying anything about it?”

Unoma managed to work herself into an upright position.

“But of course. It may have been almost fourteen hundred years since I last interacted with people, but I’m at least aware of how to conduct business. Barring that, Serena and Labareda should also be able to help out if necessary.”

Andrew nodded at her, content with her answer.

“Alright then. You guys might want to get to it then, but don’t be out to late alright? Also, I gave the money to Lab since she’s able to store it in some kind of magical space, but what I said about safety still applies.”

The three women only got up and made there way to the door, with Labareda only looking back and giving him a look that said they would be fine. Andrew didn’t feel that would be the case even when they closed the door to leave. Letting out a low huff, Andrew looked back to the Angel child, his mind finally starting to come to terms with the situation they where in along with what may or may not be a needed to see this task through. Letting out yet another sigh from his mouth, Andrew simply got up from the chair and made his way to Aruma’s bed and lay himself down next to her, the large male wrapping one arm around her as if to keep her safe while she slept.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group had quickly made its way out of the inn, the three of them coming to a stop when made their way onto the street. The first to speak up was Unoma.

“Alright, so we have what we need to do, how should we best start it off.”

Serena spoke up.

“I think we should split up and get everything quickly. That way we don’t waste any more time than necessary.”

Labareda looked to Serena curiously.

“That sounds like the opposite of what I thought we would be doing.”

“I think you and Aruma have enough sense to know what might or might not be necessary for a month long trip. What’s more important is that we try to gather information along with what would hopefully be wagon heading to Dragonia itself. I personally think it would be better if the two of you went to go and find information and a carriage while I went to go and get supplies. I might not have all of my memories yet, but I do have a good majority of what would be necessary for a trek through the land.”

Unoma and Labareda looked to each other, the both of them rather aware of the fact that they honestly didn’t have much experience roughing it in the outdoors. Well, Unoma more then Labareda, but it was still present.

Unoma nodded her head at the girl.

“That makes sense I suppose. No point in wasting time if we can get everything we need quickly. However, the information along with safe passage will take some time, thus I would ask that you come back here when your done with getting the supplies. Lab, do you still have that bag of yours?”

Labareda nodded at the silver haired woman and seemed to pull a bag mysteriously out of nowhere, holding it up to Serena.

“This is a magical bag. It should hold a good deal of anything we may need, so use that so you don’t have to try to take multiple trips.”

Serena reached out and pulled the bag over her head and slung it over her shoulders.

“Got it. It shouldn’t take me very long to get what we need, so I’ll see if I can find some information out on my own.”

“Understood. Be safe then.” Was all Labareda said before Serena turned around and started to make her way, the girl attempting to find any kind of area she might think would be a vendor or Bazaar. Making her way through the street, she found her thoughts coming to the task at hand, but also to the other reason she had wanted to split from the group. The very thoughts she still harbored about what Andrew had told her. About what she was becoming.

The thought of her body and mind changing in ways like this left a gnawing doubt and suspicion of her own mental facilities. She had been showing feelings and wants toward Andrew as of late, things she never knew she had in her. Where those a result of changing self, was she truly as she used to be?

She didn’t know, and she was honestly scared of what might be the answer. But it was an answer she felt she needed to know regardless. Thus why she had opted to separate from her group.

Yes, she would buy the things necessary for travel, but also, she was going to test her mind and spirit. She felt she had an idea of what it was she need to do, but it made her nervous. However, she only pushed that nervousness to the back of her mind as she made her way through the street, stopping every once in a while to ask questions to people she thought where locals. It didn’t take her long to find a market. Or what she assumed was the only market in Gwent. She did not, however, begin buying all that was needed at first. She was instead searching for something else in the crowd of people and mamono that seemed to swim in the area like water. Something that she felt would help her. For what felt like an hour or so, All serena did was people watch, the coming and going of those who sought items for purchase, or for company that one might find delightful. Her interest lay in that second option, one for seeking company.

She had to know if what she felt was a result of her changing, if what she was feeling for Andrew wasn’t something that her body was simply craving for. If she wasn’t in fact simply looking for a dick. After a little while, Serena happened upon someone she thought was perfect. It had been hard to see him in the crowd at first, the red-head not having been looking for him specifically, but he had become more visible as he had come closer to her. The man she saw was tall like Andrew was, but where Andrew was more built and a little thicker, this man was thinner, but still retaining the muscularity of one who did training of the body. His expression seemed soft, but always thinking, his hair was quite long for a mans, well to his hips with some of it covering the upper left half of his face. He carried himself with grace and beauty. He was quite charming and handsome, his clothing looking to fine to be that of an average person. He carried a longsword on his back, the weapon ornate and catching like the one who wielded it. Honestly, if she was going to check and see if she was a cock hungry slut, then she would prefer if the guy she tested with was at least nice to look at. Mustering her courage for a moment, as if not sure this was the best thing to do for this, Serena made her way over to him, the man’s attention having been caught by something he saw on one of the stalls. When she was close enough to call out, Serena mustered what resolve and courage she had at this point to get his attention.

“H-hey, ah… Handsome?”

She honestly could say that that was the cringiest attempt at seduction she had ever heard, and she was the one who said it. However, the man turned around to look at her, as if this was the most common name he recognized.

“Hello. Can I help you?”

Now that she had his attention, it suddenly dawned on Serena that she wasn’t sure how exactly she was going to go about this, any attempts at seduction of the opposite sex never actually existing. Save for Andrew, but she had never actually seduced him and he had been a horny male. Seeing as she was kinda just stammering, Serena just decided to fucking go with it.

“You… ah… you look like a guy who has some… ah… experience with… the sexual stuff.”

_‘Oh my god, what the fuck am I doing.’_ Was the first thing she thought.

This was not seduction.

This was awkward.

Suddenly realizing that she was making an utter fool of herself, Serena was about to say something to try to correct the situation, but surprisingly, the man in front of her nodded his head at her.

“I may know a thing or two about sex, yes. Why are you asking though?”

Not sure how she had not miraculously botched this attempt yet, Serena found the answer out of her mouth before she even thought about it.

“I want you to come with me so I can have sex with you.”

_‘Oh my god, did I fucking say that out loud in **public** of all places?!’_

If she had been expecting people to taunt or demean her for her sudden words, nobody seemed to care, the crowd looking far to busy with other things rather then a young woman’s very bad attempts at seduction. However, the man in front of her simply looked her up and down a few times before he simply nodded.

“Very well. I will humor you. Lead the way.”

Not sure if she was hearing this right, Serena dumbly looked at him for a moment before the words actually sunk in. However, she didn’t stay that way for much longer before it _did_ in fact hit her that he had agreed.

“Oh! Yeah… Right! Yeah, just uh… Follow me!”

Turning herself around, Serena quickly began making her way out of the crowd with the man in tow, her mind racing with what she was actually suggesting she was doing, while something in the back of her mind couldn’t help but wonder if this search for understanding wasn’t going to land her with an answer… or into a mistake she couldn’t erase.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

“I don’t think It was a good idea to let Serena walk off on her own.”

Labareda looked over at Unoma with a cocked eyebrow.

“Why, are you worried she might get into trouble or something? I think she can handle herself well enough.”

Unoma let out a low sigh as she hovered along beside the red haired demon girl, her mode of transport along with the dress she was wearing drawing many looks from people around them as the two of them continued to scour the area for someone who could help them with information or travel… or both if they were so wishful.

“I don’t have any concerns in regards to her being able to take care of herself. She should be more then a match for any half-baked thief or rogue. No, I’m more worried about her in regards to her emotional state.”

Lab looked at the sorceress for a moment before she nodded once.

“I can agree to a point. But at the same time, let’s try to believe in her for the time being. If something does happen… it’ll be just as much our fault as it is hers. I trust she won’t do anything though.”

“I don’t quite share your optimism on the subject, but I’ll hold off on thinking about it for now. Anyway, where do you think we should get started on first?”

Lab looked around for a moment as if in thought before she spoke up.

“How about a tavern of sorts. Such places would have some loose tongues or two willing to spill information as freely as a drink.”

Unoma agreed with a simple nod as she continued to hover along. However, the both of them noticed the gazes they were getting, more of them actually on Labareda rather then on the Dark Mage who seemed to keep missing the ground. Unoma, maybe feeling curious about it, couldn’t help but point it out.

“So… is it just me, or do you perhaps seem to be getting more attention then me?”

Lab only continued to look out for any taverns she might be able to spot, though she did respond.

“I did notice this yes. Why, are you jealous? Just flash your tits or something and I’m sure the looks will change very quickly.”

“That’s just silly. I have no reason to flash my tits unless I want to have sex, and I’m not really in the mood for that.”

Labareda let out a small laugh.

“I highly doubt that, but surprising if it is indeed the case.”

Unoma ignored the remark and continued with her observation.

“No, the looks seem to be of… surprise. Maybe some admiration and awe?”

Lab looked out into the crowd and noticed that Unoma was actually right in this regard, the demonic familiar seeing what it was that the silver haired witch was talking about.

“Now that you mention it… let’s put it to a test then. I just so happened to find a bar up the way there.”

Unoma looked in the direction Lab was staring at and noticed an older looking sign hanging above what looked to be a well worn though still well-kept facility. The both of them quickly made there way through the door, the sound of the creaking wood making for as much a bell as any metal implement would. Where there had been some idle conversation and laughing a moment ago, the place went very quiet when Lab walked into the bar. This was immediately noted by both of the mamono as they took in many of the stares and dumbfound expressions on faces of both man and mamono alike.

“Huh…fascinating.”

Was the only words out of Labareda’s mouth as she brought her attention to the barkeeper, a man of impressive stature and size with an equally mentionable mustache. However, his expression was equally as dumbfounded as the rest of the bar patrons for a moment before he realized what it was he might look like. He then screwed his face back up into one of professionalism and went back to cleaning the mug that was in his hand. Both women noted the reactions for only a moment longer before they simply looked to each other with a nod and made their way to the barkeeper. As they traversed the bar floor, Labareda couldn’t help but pick up on snippets of hushed conversation.

“Baphomet…”

“…doing here…”

“…Dark witch as well…”

“…sign…”

All interesting tidbits of information to be sure, but her mind didn’t find any of it relevant to her current quest. Before she even noticed, she was already standing in front of the bar… though sadly, given her short height, only the top of her head along with the length of her helix horns was even visible past the bar counter. Unoma stood over that well enough, but her expression was smug as all hell as she looked at the current height predicament.

“Going to be hard to order anything if you can’t even see the selection. Want me to order you something? Or would you prefer I list all the names off for you?”

“Ha ha **ha.** You’re so funny.”

Was her only response before she simply opted to pull one of the bar stools back and hop herself up onto it with ease. This allowed her to get a view of the barkeeper, who was a little nervous, if not interested.

“How can I help you ladies?”

Lab hummed a little under her breath at the man’s choice of words.

“Oh? That’s surprising. I’m more used to people mistaking me for a child with the way I look. I take it your used to patrons like myself?”

“I’m used to Mamono not appearing the age they present, though I’m willing to admit that this will be my first time serving a Baphomet.”

Lab wasn’t used to that word, Baphomet, but she opted to roll with it for the time being. Letting a small huff escape her lips, the demon waved her hand to the rack behind the man.

“Well, if you’re willing to serve, then I might as well take advantage of it. Have anything that could knock even a demon on its ass?”

The bartender only had a small smirk on his lips before he got to it. A few moments of patience later and the man had a glass full of some pinkish liquid in his hands before placing it on the table. Lab eyed it curiously for a moment, her long memory not recalling a drink like this one before. However, Unoma instantly recognized it, her eyes seemingly lighting up in interest.

“Oh, now that’s rare. I hadn’t been aware that that particular drink could be found out here. I’m used to it being only accessible to the highly privileged or strong.”

The barkeeper looked at Unoma with some apparent surprise and admiration.

“You know your drink history, But the Crystal Blossom has become more common in the past five hundred or so years, thus making it less rare, but still very potent to mamono and those of a magical inclination.”

Lab, having paid attention to that, simply looked to the drink for a moment before she reached out with her furry paw and picked up the glass. She wasted no time in taking a sip from it, the feeling of alcohol not unfamiliar to her, though this particular drink quickly filling her with an alcoholic warmth. She couldn’t help but hum contently before she put a single gold piece on the counter. The man looked a little surprised at the coin at first, but he didn’t let it show on his face for very long. However, Unoma spoke up next.

“I’ll also have what my partner is having. Only double. She’s also paying for it.”

Lab looked at Unoma with a very annoyed look, but she simply opted to keep her mouth shut while she took another sip. This time, the barkeep brought back a mug rather then a glass, the woman looking very eager as she wrapped her hands around the mug and took a long drink from it. Lab only looked on with a little more annoyance at her comrade before she spoke a simple phrase.

“Filthy drunk.”

Unoma ignored her as she continued to down the mug, everyone in the bar looking rather impressed. However, Lab had other things to do, thus she brought her attention back to the barkeeper.

“So, I can see from the number of your patrons that you get a bit of business of several varieties.”

The mustached man nodded at her as he picked up a glass and began to wipe it down (she was pretty sure it was the same one he had been cleaning earlier).

“I do indeed. I can proudly claim that I get a fair bit of business of many types. Merchants, seaman, mamono, guards, maybe a royal or two. Not much that I haven’t served in my long time as a barkeeper.”

“Sounds fascinating. Maybe out of all of that experience you can tell me a little something of getting a wagon up north to dragonia.”

The barkeeper nodded his head at her.

“That’s an interesting place to be heading to right now. What takes you up north?”

Unoma, who had drained the whole mug without even taking it away from her lips, put it back on the counter and indicated for a refill.

“We happen to be heading that way to try to get to Mt. Corona. Heard it was beautiful, thus the both of us and our master wanted to go see it.’

The man visibly blanched at one word in her sentence.

“Master? There’s someone strong enough to defeat a Baphomet? Been a while since I had heard of someone claiming a Baphomet as his wife.”

Lab puffed her chest out in some pride.

“Well, he has yet to truly beat me in combat, but the potential is there. I’m hoping to coax it out of him before long.”

“I see…”

Was all the man said before he looked between the both of them, the bottle already in his hand as he filled up Unoma’s mug.

“Well, I hate to say it, but all I really know right now is that Dragonia is currently in a bit of a problem with the Dragons of the maw. Something about tensions and skirmishes with the Dragonian wyvern knights and the wild dragons. Not a lot of people heading up that way right now on account of traveling bands having been attacked by both wild mamono and wild monsters. You might try your luck at the gate to see what you can find, or you can look to the Adventure guild to post a request, or even take one going up that way if you’re confident enough. Though given the present company, I don’t doubt you could nab a request or two.”

Lab took another drink from her glass, the last one draining the cup in fact, before she put it down and nodded at him.

“That’s helpful information. You wouldn’t happen to know where the adventurer guild is would you?”

The man chuckled under his breath before he spoke up.

“I do actually.”

With that said, the man explained the information Lab wanted to hear, asking any questions followed by answers she received. Eventually she managed to get as much information as she could before generously tipping the man for both the info, as well as for the amount of drink Unoma had downed during that time. Lab lost count after the third bottle, and the dark mage didn’t even look tipsy. Conversation had started back up in the facility as the explanations had continued, but it quieted down as the both of them payed the man and left the bar. With the both of them outside, Lab turned to Unoma and spoke up.

“Well, I got as much info as I could at this point. What do you think we should do now? Head back and inform master? Or should we head to the adventure guild and see what we can find out?”

Unoma tapped her chin in thought as she started to hover again, the Dark mage only giving a few seconds to the thought process before she spoke up.

“Which is closer? The inn or the guild?”

Lab thought about for only a moment before she spoke.

“The inn. The guild is a small distance from here, but it’s further then the Inn we are staying at.”

“Then I’ll make my way back and let Dear Master know what we have. You can go to the guild and find what you can. I’m also curious to see if Serena is back yet. I feel like I should talk with her about something.”

Lab looked at Unoma blankly for a moment, not sure if the woman was trying to get out of work or if she was in fact doing said work. However, she couldn’t refute the soundness in the argument and only let out a low sigh.

“Very well. I’ll make my way to the Guild to see what I can find. Just make sure you don’t get sidetracked alright?”

Unoma smiled at the red head before she started to hover away.

“I won’t, I’m already pleasantly drunk as is, so no need to stop by somewhere else.”

Lab only let out a low sigh before she turned in the opposite direction and began making her way down the road, her thoughts on things to be done.

Xxx meanwhile… xxX

Serena nervously fidgeted on the bed, her hands interlocked with each other while her foot would shift every once in a while. She had removed her hairbands and tucked them away while also having removed most of her armor, leaving her in her small-clothes and pretty much nothing else. The reason for this state was because she had followed along with the man she had ‘seduced’ who had brought her to a rather nice looking inn. He then paid for a room and had taken her up to the room they both currently inhabited, the man saying he would like to bath first to get the fish market stink off of himself. Serena, stuck waiting for him at that point, had opted to start stripping out of her clothing until she was in her underwear, upon which she finally started to get a mental picture of what was actually going on.

She was currently sitting _half naked_ in a room with a complete stranger who she had solicited for sex. Frankly, it sounded like the most insane thing she had ever heard, but here she was doing that very thing. At the same time though, she was very thoroughly convinced that this was the best way to figure out what she was really like and if her mind was still rational and her own. If she was in fact still a sane person or if she wasn’t in fact a cock hungry slut eager to get fucked. However, that didn’t do much for the sheer amount of nervousness that was coursing through her body, this made even worse by the fact that the shower room didn’t have a door nor that the shower had a curtain over it. Serena had noticed this about The blissful tides own shower as well. She wasn’t sure if this was common, but it easily allowed her to see the mans naked and sculpted glory, the abs and defined muscles of this man glistening with the running water as he combed through his long hair.

_‘Oh no he’s hot.’_

Was all Serena could think as she watched all of this. Thankfully his back was turned to her, so she had yet to see his penis, but his ass was very well formed and almost perfect for a guy. This ogling of the body came to a halt when the man called out to her from the shower room.

“You’re free to join me if you so wish.”

Serena jumped at that, floundering around for a moment to get an answer out of her mouth.

“I…ah…. That is… I’m good for the moment! I haven’t really sweated or anything and I took a bath earlier today so yeah… I’m good!”

Truthfully it was more an excuse because she wasn’t quite to the point that she could brazenly walk in nude. The man didn’t seem perturbed by this and only responded in kind.

“I see… well that’s fine. I should be out in a minute or two.”

Serena could only smile awkwardly, the thought that she had a time limit also adding to her nervousness. For what little remained of her time, Serena sat there and waited, mentally trying to see herself having sex with this guy, her mind going over what little information she had based around her past experience… which wasn’t a whole lot when she started to think about it. And anything that was sexual in her thoughts only involved her being jilled off by either Unoma or Andrew. That last thought sent a pleasant shiver up her spine, but she pushed those thoughts out of her head when, once again, she came to the conclusion that she was very out of her element. She _might_ have had some experience in the past, but her memories were still splotchy at best and anything she did remember didn’t have anything to do with sex.

“I am so going to look like an idiot…”

Was all that came out of her mouth.

“Did you say something?”

She jumped when she heard his voice so close and turned up to see that the man was currently standing not but a short distance from her, his body fully nude and her eyes getting the full-frontal assault of said nudity. Serena felt her eyes go wide upon seeing him, this mans body chiseled as if from marble with not one ounce of imperfection to be found on him. Legs, upper body, arms, neck line, nothing seemed out of place nor did it seem too muscular nor too thin. Even more surprising was the weapon that hung between his legs, the mans dick quite a length and girth despite not even being erect yet. Andrew was almost the same size if she recalled correctly, but this man had him beat by some amount. Once again, Serena was caught floundering internally for verbal ability while her external body could only look on at the man with sheer stunned silence. It then came to mind that he had asked her a question, a question that she perceived would need an answer.

“Ah…Uh… um…”

She wasn’t doing a very good job on that front, her eyes practically glued to the man’s lower body. The man, seeing her gaze, could only smile at her before he spoke up.

“I’ll take it that you didn’t say anything, though I would appreciate it if eye contact was made after all. As amusing a concept it would be, I do not have eyes below the belt after all.”

Serena caught herself at his words and quickly brought her attention to his eye level, her face going red from being caught staring at a mans dick so openly.

“Ah… sorry about that, just… I’m not used to… _things_ that size ya know… somewhat… but not… well… _that._ ”

The man let out a low chuckle as he put a hand on his hip.

“Somewhat surprising considering most anybody would have something of this size nowadays. Some people I know have dicks even larger than my own. If anything, I’m average.”

Serena could hardly mentally think on the concept that what this guy had packing would be considered the average of all males in the world.

“That’s… surprising.”

Was all she could really say on the matter.

The man looked Serena up and down for a moment as she said that, a curious look in his eyes.

“I see… well, before we get started, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

Once again finding herself confused, Serenas momentary silence was marked as a go ahead.

“Are you perhaps a virgin?”

Serena’s already red face went an even deeper shade of crimson, the fact so blatantly pointed out to her being a rather large hit to her for some unknown reason.

“I… Uh.. that is… I’m…”

The man found himself lightly laughing again at her stumbling.

“It’s alright. I won’t berate you for it. Though I will admit seeing someone your age still being a virgin is in of itself a rarity.”

Serena could only look down in some measure of embarrassment, the girl not quite sure how to even respond to this nor of what would need to happen next. Thankfully she didn’t need to think about it as a moment later she felt the bed depress right next to her, causing her to look up and see that the handsome man had sat next to her.

“Relax, we all start out that way. Nothing to be ashamed about in regards to it.”

“I…I guess so…”

Was all she mumbled out. The man simply chuckled under his breath again before he moved his hand to her leg, the girl’s eyes jumping when he did.

“So, are you ready? Seeing as this is a first for you, I believe it would be best if we did what it is you wish to do here.”

If the hand hadn’t surprised her, the man’s words certainly did. She honestly had been expecting him to get started right away. The fact he was being so considerate of her left her surprised, though thankful at the same time.

“Ah… Uh… are… are you sure?”

The male simply smiled and nodded at her.

“I am.”

Now finding herself in a position to be able to go at her own pace, Serena was somewhat lost on what to do now, the ability to set her own pace leaving her baffled as to what to do. However, it dawned on her quickly what she might like for him to start off with, though even that was somewhat embarrassing for her.

“Uh… do you mind… t-touching me?”

The man only smirked at her choice of words.

“You mean like I am now?”

Seeing that his comforting hand had yet to leave her leg, Serena couldn’t help but blush.

“Ah… no… I mean… in a… s… sexual… manner…”

She found herself stuttering under her own words, her voice getting quieter as she continued with her sentence. The man could only smile warmly at her, though his hand found itself doing something a lot less warm and a lot more hot. Snaking his hand further up her and closer to under her skirt, Serena could only watch and feel as he did this, the sensation of a hand working its way to her rather exposed lower region causing her heart to accelerate. It got even faster when she felt the faintest brush of his finger against her lower lips through the fabric of her small clothes.

_‘There already!?’_

Was all she could think about in that precise moment, but it would only last for a second more when she felt the feeling of his other hand pull her in closer, his arm wrapping around her and the same pulling hand coming to rest on her concealed breasts. It left her feeling highly embarrassed, but she knew that this was what she had asked for. For the next minute or so, the stranger simply massaged and fondled her more delicate bits through her underwear, the redhead simply letting it happen as her body began to flush with excitement. It wasn’t meant to be just that though as she felt the hand on her pussy work it’s way past the clothing and begin to touch her directly. He did the same with the one on her right breast, the feeling of his fingers playing with her nipple and lower lips causing her to clench unconsciously. Sadly, she was still very virginal in terms of sexual pleasure despite having been played with twice so far, so a few minutes of this was enough for her to be leaking and feeling quite amorous. It wasn’t long until she felt the familiar feeling of her body hitting her peak, that rush in her lower body followed by tightening of her pussy around the finger of the man who was exploring those depths. It didn’t last long though, and despite the fact that she had come, Serena felt several things. One of them was that despite having just cum, she didn’t feel fulfilled at all, the second being that though this had felt nice, her memory of when Andrew had done it felt many many times more wonderous then this.

She wasn’t sure why this way, and she still felt rather energetic despite the last few times she had cum with someone’s hands. Those times she had been wore out enough to not be unable to move for several minutes. A speaking voice caught her attention however, forcing her thoughts to the man next to her.

“So? How was it?”

“Ah… it was… um… it was… good.”

She felt that her response was kinda weak, but the man simply kept smiling at her.

“Was it now? Are you perhaps just saying that to make me feel better?”

The question came out of left field, leaving Serena a little flustered for an answer.

“Ah! No, it’s just… Uh… I’m not really Uh… feeling it right now… so… uh…”

She had managed to get this far with her response, but Serena could only trail off at this point. However, if the man was angry or agitated by her answer, he didn’t show it. In fact, he simply looked amused.

“Really now? Well, maybe I could get you in the mood with a kiss? I happen to be quite talented at that so I’m told.”

Serena would have thought that a simple act of kissing wouldn’t really mean much in this situation, but surprisingly to her, the thought of kissing this man was filled with a lot of revulsion. As if the very idea to her was not something that was meant to happen and shouldn’t.

“Uh… actually… let’s not do the kissing thing, okay?”

The man simply nodded, but Serena couldn’t help but notice a knowing look in his face.

“Very well. Then perhaps it would do you some good to get that kiss from the man you’re actually thinking about then?”

Serena blanched at that, not quite sure what the man was on about, but for some reason, instinctively knowing that she had been outed.

“Huh?”

Though acknowledging it in the moment was a little more difficult for her. The man simply chuckled to himself as he stood back up.

“It’s rather easy to see with the way your acting and after what just happened. Not to sound prideful or anything, but most woman who I end up pleasuring end up as a mess when my hands are done with them. The only women this doesn’t affect are those who have men they already care about or have husbands. I can take it from the way you where acting earlier that you don’t have a husband, but instead have someone you like. However, given the state your magical energy is in, you have just now started to become a Mamono. This is causing you to doubt yourself and your feelings on the matter, thus why you are seeking to test this newfound discovery of yourself by sleeping with another man. Would I be correct in my thought process?”

Serena didn’t have the words to describe how right he was, though she was sure her shocked expression was doing wonders in explaining it for her. The man took her stunned silence as an agreement with him and simply chuckled to himself.

“Contrary to my appearance, I’ve been around the block of life several times, so I have my wealth of knowledge in regards to mamono. So, would you like to continue? Or have you managed to come to an answer yet about yourself.”

Staying a little stupefied for a moment longer, Serena realized that she had been asked a question, and this time, she had something of an answer.

“Um… I don’t know really… but… if you’re so knowledgeable, maybe you can answer this question I have.”

The dark haired man simply nodded at her before he brought all of his attention to her. Serena only looked at him for a moment, not his lower half, but at his face and expression. They were the kind that indicated that one was invested in listening, thus she knew he was being attentive to her. This allowed her to have some confidence in her coming words.

“So… if you have had this conversation before with others… how do I know my feelings are real?”

The man smiled at her for a moment before he answered her, no hesitation in his words.

“Despite the transformative effects of monster mana and it’s supposed mind altering effects, All it really does is make those affected more sexual. If you have a love for someone, all you really feel is a desire to have sex with them. Love is more driven towards lust in this sense, at its core, the love you harbor is still there. Why, even after all these years with my wife, I still yearn for her body like the first day I laid eyes upon her, and she I in that same sense. If you still harbor doubts about it from my words alone, then maybe the actions we took part in a few moments ago would serve as a better enforcer of my words and the truth therein.”

Serena was almost one hundred percent certain she had just heard a very interesting tidbit come out of this mans mouth about his relationship status, but she only opted to put it to the back of her mind for the time being. It made some sense what he said, she having found what she felt when he touched her skin to like light masturbation. It hadn’t been fulfilling nor all that wonderful to her, hell, even her memories of it being done to her by Andrew and Unoma were better even in her mind. For a few more moments, Serena could only mull it over in her head trying to find something in the logic that might be wrong. But she found that there wasn’t really anything there of the like and simply turned her attention back up to the man.

“I see… I think I better understand it… though I’m not sure if I can accept it quite yet. But I think it will put me on the right track.”

The man nodded at her.

“Everything starts somewhere. All one needs to do is take the first step in the right direction.”

Serena couldn’t help but smile at the advice, the man making sense in that regard. The man himself simply smiled back at her before he nodded once.

“Alright then! If that’s been taken care of, I do believe I will get myself dressed. As much as I enjoy walking nude, I fear if I leave the inn like this then I’ll be swarmed by all manner of women in no time.”

Serena ended up looking down below the belt again, but caught and chastised herself mentally for the action before she spoke up.

“Makes sense… but… uh… didn’t you say you where married? Won’t your wife get mad at you for sleeping with another woman?”

“Oh, she’ll get mad Alright. But not for the reasons you think. Actually it would be my first wife who would get rather upset with my, the other four don’t really seem to mind all that much.”

“Other four?!”

The man only laughed as he got dressed.

“Don’t pay it any mind, though the concern is appreciated. Anyway, I think I’ll stay in this room for a little bit and get myself in order. You can go on ahead and head where you need to.”

Serena could only agree with the man on that point and quickly got herself dressed. However, during this, she couldn’t help but be curious about the man she almost ended up sleeping with.

“Hey… Uh… thanks for helping me out… my name is Serena by the way. What’s yours?”

The man hesitated for a moment, though he eventually answered.

“You’re quite welcome. As for my name… my name is Sergio.”

Getting the last of her clothing on, Serena looked back to Sergio and nodded at him.

“Sergio… I’ll keep your name in mind. But in the meantime, thanks again for helping me, and I hope to see you again in the near future.”

“I hope so as well, and make sure to bring your boyfriend with you next time okay?”

“Wha! He’s not my…”

Serena didn’t have the ability to finish that sentence, the thoughts in her mind telling her a different story in its entirety, forcing her to simply close her mouth in a huff and her cheeks to redden. The man simply laughed at her expression before he bid her farewell one more time and escorted her to the hall. Standing in said hall, Serena looked back at the room door and spoke up.

“Nice guy…”

With that out of the way, Serena made her way out of the inn and got back to her original task, which was to get the supplies as was asked of her. Meanwhile, in said room, Sergio let out a low sigh as he sat on the bed.

“Pity she was taken already, she hit so many good markers for me… and stop hiding already. I know you’ve been there since you followed us back at the market.”

Out of the corner of the room, it looked as if the air cracked at his words, only simply for those cracks to vanish and for someone to appear in the corner. Standing there was a young looking girl, in her early teens and carrying the height and build of a young woman of such a stature. However, it was easy for anyone to see that this girl was a Mamono, though not just any kind. Those of a deep and intimate knowledge of the world would know that this young woman was a succubus of a superior breed. Of the highest breed to be exact. The white twin tail hair, white wings that came from the lower back, a hearted tipped white tail, and red eyes with black sclera, this young woman couldn’t have been mistaken for anything other then a Lilim, a daughter of the Demon Lord herself. However, this lilim was currently sporting an unhappy pout on her face.

“When we get home I’m so telling mom that you almost brought another woman home.”

Sergio simply let out a low sigh as he stood up and walked over to the young lilim, a hand reaching up and patting the top of her head affectionately.

“You know you won’t since you’re not even supposed to be here in the first place. If you’re gonna tell on Papa, then all you’ll do is end up getting yourself into unnecessary hot water. You know as well as I do that of the two of us, you’ll get in way more trouble.”

The young lilim simply pouted harder at her father, the man doing that dad thing where he made a lot of sense and her not coming up with anything to refute said dad logic. That didn’t mean she had to like it though.

“Fiiiiine.”

Sergio simply smiled at her like a father would before he removed his hand from her head.

“Good girl. By the by Zizou, did you manage to find anything in our travel through Gwent today?”

The young lilim found herself a seat on the bed and lay down before she replied with a huff.

“Nope. Nothing. I couldn’t sense anything. I haven’t felt anything since yesterday either… except for maybe one or two of those Noir guys. Nothing like what we felt yesterday though.”

Sergio only nodded at her before he looked out the window.

“Interesting…and concerning. We will need to see if any ships are heading out to the shadow labyrinth soon. I think we might find a clue out that way. Otherwise, I think it best we rest for the time being before we make our way to the dock.”

Zizou looked to her father for a moment before she sat back up.

“Makes sense. In the meantime, I’mma go out and see if I can find a husband.”

Sergio looked to his daughter for a moment before he let out what sounded to be an extremely tired sigh.

“Again? Sweetheart, you really need to hold off on that for a while. I swear, you are way too influenced by your elder sisters.”

“But daaaaaad… almost everyone in our family has a husband/boyfriend/lover/boy toy/slave/fuck buddy but me! I’m thirty three years old already! All my sisters had sex long before this point in age!”

Sergio was tempted to tell her that a few of her sisters actually had yet to have sex at that same age range, but that would mean compromising some of there older sister status, so he opted to forgo that little tidbit.

“You know Zizou, if it’s just sex you wanted, I’m sure you can find any man who would be more then willing to sleep with you.”

“Nooooooooooo… it’s gotta be that one special guy! He’s gotta be kind and gentle and wonderful, but super lewd and willing to do all kinds of things with and to me! He also has to be really strong and able to beat me in a one on one fight! And he has to have girls too to show off his awesome charisma!”

Sergio could only let out a low sigh at his daughter’s explanation of her ideal man. Sadly, this kind of ideal man was actually rather hard to come by in terms of his daughters’ standards, seeing as they where heavily based off of him after all. No doubt an influence of her mother in that regard. However, he had heard this many time before already and couldn’t help but push it to the back of his mind.

“Very well… just be careful when you go out on your own Alright?”

The girl beamed at her father for a moment before she jumped up off the bed and gave her dad a hug.

“Thanks daddy! I can feel it in my blood! I know I’ll find a guy today!”

And with that, the girl seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving Sergio to sigh once more before he opted to leave the room to peruse his own investigation.

Going back to Unoma, the Dark Mage had managed to hover her way back to the inn as she had planned. Though she had noticed a good number of people staring at her, the male populace ogling her hanging breasts and the lack of bra on her low-cut dress, with some females doing the same. She had to admit that even after all this time, she could still turn heads. Though the head she wanted right now was the one between her master’s legs. But for the moment, she planned on doing as she intended, then happy sex after that. Having arrived at the door that was her current domicile, Unoma flicked her wrist and the door popped open without hesitation, upon which she entered and found Andrew and Aruma currently laying on the same bed and asleep. The mage couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor girl, having exhausted herself to save someone she hardly knew and being put under a deep sleep to recover her massive energy supply. After having closed the door, Unoma hovered over and touched down next to the bed, where she then bent down and kissed the girl on the forehead like a mother would. She looked on fondly before a small grimace marred her face for a moment, a memory from long ago bringing forth some ugly feelings.

“I wonder if they’re alive even now…”

“Who are you hoping is still alive?”

Despite the sudden sound of her master’s voice, Unoma failed to look surprised, she then looked over to see that Andrew had not exactly been fast asleep. Letting out a low chuckle from under her breath, Unoma simply waved her hand.

“It’s not important…”

Andrew, who had been laying down, opted to sit himself upright. Though he did it carefully so as not to disturb Aruma.

“Why would you mention it if it wasn’t that important.”

Unoma moved herself over to one of the free beds and lay down on it, the mage woman sliding one leg closer to her so that her dress came off her knee in a rather titillating manner followed by her hand coming up to rest on her ample chest, the soft show of her hand coming to rest on the hem of the inner cut of her dress making for a sexual delight to any who looked at her right now.

“Who knows. Maybe guilt? Maybe to get your attention?”

Andrew got up off the bed only to walk over and sit on the one Unoma was currently playing seductress on, though he was turned away from her and looking over out the window.

“Well, you already had my attention when you came back in the room. Though the guilt option seems to have more grounding for plausibility.”

Turning his head to look at her, Andrew couldn’t help but smile at her.

“What do you think.”

Unoma showed a small pout on her face, the woman’s sexual advances going ignored in the flow of conversation.

“Maybe, but I think we can find something better to do with our time other than talk about history.”

Andrew turned himself in a position to lay on the bed next to Unoma, his gaze staring upward at the ceiling as he smiled.

“We could, but I honestly feel more like dissecting your statement over having some fun… plus, Aruma is in the room. I wouldn’t want to wake her up.”

Unoma only pouted at him, but she didn’t have long to do so before he started back up with his hands behind his head.

“Maybe guilty… why would you feel guilty? And what would prompt that kind of response I wonder… you only mentioned it that way after you kissed Aruma on the forehead. And before you even said that, you had said something about someone being alive after all of this time. Now I wonder, who specifically could you be talking about that would cause you to worry and feel guilty at the same time.”

Unoma propped herself up on her elbow and turned to look at him, the woman slightly curious to see where her master went with his line of reasoning.

“Enlighten me.”

Chuckling under his breath, Andrew raised his hand as a teacher would to explain to a student.

“Very well then. Let us draw our points out then. First in that you have treated Aruma very sweetly ever since we found her in the shadow labyrinth. Almost like a mother or an older sister. This tells me that you have some maternal instincts in you. This leads me to what I saw in the second point, that being when you mentioned that you hoped someone or someone’s was still alive. Now why make this comment after that affectionate display with Aruma? Easy, because you where referring to someone close to you in a familial sense. Someone like siblings, or in what I believe to be the most accurate representation to your display. Children, and several of them at that.”

Andrew then turned to look at Unoma, a small smirk on his face while she held a neutral expression on her own.

“So, am I pretty close to the mark?”

For a moment, she didn’t say anything. However, the next instant and she couldn’t help but chuckle and roll on her back followed by staring up at the wooden ceiling.

“Tell me Dear Master, is everyone in your world as astute as you are? If so, that would be quite terrifying in my opinion.”

Andrew simply chuckled under his breath before shaking his head.

“No, not everyone. In fact, being observant and understanding information was pretty much the job I was training for back where I was.”

Unoma simply hummed under her breath before she rolled over and let out a low sigh.

“Well, you’re not wrong in anything you said. Yes, I did have some children in the past… however, it’s been so long since I last saw any of them that I’m not even aware if they are alive anymore. Granted if they have magical ability like myself, they are probably still around…”

Andrew couldn’t help but feel that there was a ‘but’ at the end of that sentence, but he wasn’t going to push her anymore at this point. She would talk about it in her own time if she so wished, and he was a patient man. However, that didn’t mean he was done talking though. Bracing himself up with his elbow, Andrew managed to work himself up to a sitting position before he got to his knees and worked himself over Unoma, where he then lay down on her body with his face between her massive breasts.

“No wonder you have such a nice pair of tits. I guess being a mother helped to get them up to proper size huh?”

Unoma, used to Andrew being on top of her most of the time, simply raised her arms and wrapped them around him in a hug, gently squeezing him into her cleavage.

“Well, motherhood may have done a little bit to add to my size, but I’m naturally large to begin with.”

Andrew only smiled before he pushed himself up a little more and used his free hands to grab at both her breasts.

“Ya know… thinking about it, if you’ve had kids, that means you’ve had sex with another man before, amaright?”

“Several actually. I’ve been involved in ritual orgys at times as well.”

She had answered honestly, but she had a cute ,if not teasing, smile on her face as she looked at Andrew.

“Is Dear Master perhaps jealous?”

Andrew simply mock pouted at her before he pinched her nipples past her dress.

“Maybe a little bit. But at the same time, I can see why any man would want to stick his dick in you you horny milf.”

Unoma felt a blush start to form on her face as her nipples where played with, the sensitive tips starting to become even more receptive to Andrews hands.

“Milf?”

Andrew grinned at her as he pushed himself up to a sitting position and got off of her. He then moved below her waist where he then moved her dress aside to reveal Unomas nude lower half.

“It means ‘mother I’d like to fuck’.”

As he said this, Andrew pulled his pants down and away from his quickly growing cock, his length already well beyond half mast as he showed it off to Unoma. The Dark Mage bit her lower lip in a naughty manner, her eyes full of expectation while one of her heads went down to gently stroke the dick before her.

“You know, I still think it needs to be bigger.”

Andrew only half laughed at her statement.

“Geez, I’m starting to wonder if you don’t have an all-the-way-through fetish.”

Despite not being sure what Andrew meant by that, Unoma could somewhat guess at what he was talking about. However, that was secondary to what she most wanted right now, and Andrew wasn’t one to keep her waiting as he lined his cock up with the woman’s leaking cunt. Before he could pierce her though, she spoke up with a teasing tone to her voice.

“Oh? Didn’t you say you wanted to let Aruma sleep?”

Andrew pressed the tip of his erection at her womanhood, just enough to press on it, but not enough to actually pierce her.

“Then I guess we’re just going to need to be quiet now aren’t _we?_ ”

Without any warning, Andrew thrust the full length of his cock right into Unoma’s unexpecting, but still drenched, slit. Unoma felt the entire length enter her without any kind of resistance, her voice catching in her throat as she tried not to let out a loud shout of sexual inclination. She then looked at Andrew with a failed attempt at annoyance on her face, her flush and lewd expression doing to much to indicate otherwise.

“Oh now that just isn’t faaaAAAIIIEEEEE-”

She started to yell again, but had to throw her hands over her mouth on account that Andrew pulled back quickly and slammed himself right back into her. He didn’t say anything, but the look of lust on her face past her covered mouth only made Andrew harder and more eager to make her cry out. Pulling himself back out again, Andrew proceeded to begin his assault on Unomas womb, the tightness of her cunt around his dick making for an equally pleasurable feeling for the both of them. Unoma tried her best to keep her mouth closed, the woman not wanting to do anything to wake Aruma up. However, this was turning neigh impossible at this point due to the feeling of her womb being ravaged from Andrews savage pace, each thrust into her body breaking the walls of her reason and leaving in its wake the flood of her lust. Being the sex crazed mage that she was, that didn’t take very long, the thrusting of a long and thick cock, the panting, the heat of two bodies, the swaying of her breasts as she would be mercilessly fucked. Eventually those hands fell away from her mouth, leaving her to moan and squeal in carnal delight.

Andrew found himself panting heavily with the extreme exertion, but the look of bliss on her face spurred him to try even harder. Even at that, he couldn’t help but speak up.

“Every time I’m fucking you, you can’t help but look like a whore to me. Like some kind of slut who can’t wait to get a dick buried into her cunt. I’m surprised your as tight as you are considering you’ve been fucked by others.”

“Yes! I can’t help it! I’m a little slut who loves getting pounded by cocks! It always feels so good to get my womb destroyed! Fuck me harder Master! Break my body into pieces, shatter my mind with your dick!”

At this point, she wasn’t even trying to be quiet, and if Andrew had the presence of mind to think about it, he was sure that there was a number of people who could hear them in the inn as well. But he wasn’t, the only thing he was currently thinking of was fucking the silver haired mage until she couldn’t walk straight. Renewing his pace, Andrew grabbed at her heaving breasts to use as some support as he rammed his cock into her snatch. At this point, both of them had long since thrown away the reason to quiet down, and due to this, they had not noticed that Aruma had been woken by the sound, the young girl not having been asleep for very long since she last woke up. She had heard the noise, and when she opened her eyes, she was met with the sight of Andrew currently mashing his hips into Unoma’s, the woman looking ecstatic as Andrew would drive himself into her over and over again.

Having just woken up and still rather clouded in mind, the young girl found herself stunned to silence, her eyes wide open, but her mind working itself into understanding. The feeling she held when she last saw this renewed itself in full, her heart beating rapidly while her breathing quickened. She felt that aching and hot itchiness in her vagina, Labareda’s paws and what they had done in this state coming to mind. Thus, the girl found her hand wandering down to her little mound and she began to fiddle with herself, not having an understanding of what she was doing, but the memory of what Lab had done quickly coming to mind as her fingers started to get to work. She felt this should have been a shameful act, the act of her fingers hesitantly testing and paying with her lower lips. Again thought Labareda’s words came to mind in that this was actually normal, that she shouldn’t be ashamed of doing this to herself, thus she watched on as the both of them continued to enjoy themselves, her hands quickly getting the feel for what she liked the most.

Unaware of the audience of one they had, Andrew and Unoma simply kept going, Unoma having wrapped her legs around Andrew has he continued to press into her with the mating instinct of an animal in heat, his hands pinning her by her wrists as he began to hit the peak of his lust. Unoma could feel the change in his body, the feeling of his pace coming faster while his breathing started to get faster.

“Master! Pour it directly into me! Fill my slutty pussy with your essence!”

Andrew didn’t need to be told twice, as not even a few moments later, he felt that familiar feeling in his groin as hot streams of his seed surged from his cock into Unoma’s body. That cum pouring directly into her body was enough for Unoma to hit the peak herself, her pussy clamping down on Andrews cock so as not to let one drop of his semen escape. Aruma, having been playing with herself this whole time, felt a feeling in her body that indicated that she was coming close to that amazing feeling in her groin, and was able to get off at the same time as the other two, her finger having been rubbing her clit at the moment of orgasm. For tens of seconds, all of them where stuck in this state of orgasmic bliss,Andrews cock pouring all it had directly into the woman currently pinned by him while the two women in question could feel their pussies tighten up and their lower bodies light up in white fire. Eventually though, the synchronized orgasm came to an end, and everyone felt there bodies relax at last. Aruma, seeing that she had yet to be noticed, turned herself away in an attempt to make it seem like she had simply rolled over in her sleep, the poor girl feeling embarrassed about watching the both of them in such an intimate act. Unoma was rather spent herself, the woman simply panting as she felt her belly up and down had become distended with the sheer amount of cum in her womb. Andrew pulled himself out of her, the familiar pooping sound of his cock coming out of a tight cunt leaving him feeling satisfied, though once again mystified about why none of it was coming out. Rolling himself over to her side, Andrew put and arm under her body and pulled her close to him in an embrace.

“You really just can’t keep quiet during sex can you?”

Unoma, used to Andrew wanting to cuddle after the act, simply lay her head on his shoulder as she cuddled up next to him.

“Oh I’m sure I could, I just choose not to. Not only that, but something tells me you enjoy making women moan and scream like I do.”

Andrew couldn’t help but mentally admit that it was a major turn on to him, but at the same time, he had to at least have some sign of dignity in the moment.

“Not all the time mind. Besides, we where trying to let Aruma rest. Your screaming could have woken the dead.”

Thinking about it, Andrew turned to look at Aruma. From what he could tell, the girl looked to be asleep still, unbeknownst to him that she was very much awake at the moment and currently trying to go over what she had done, though she could feel the tiredness start to seep back into her mind. Unoma looked up over Andrew and saw the same thing he did.

“Well, looks like she’s a very heavy sleeper. Though I honestly wouldn’t mind if she had watched.”

“Bit of an exhebitonist are you?”

Unoma chuckholes under her breath.

“Maybe a little.”

However, before they could continue the banter, the sound of the door opening caused the both of them to look to said door and see that Serena was standing there. The first thing the red head took note of was that Andrew and Unoma where currently laying on one of the beds, both naked and looking sweaty, flushed, and Unaoms belly looked larger then usual. A blush cropped up on her face, but she didn’t let her expression slacken.

“Gods… you can’t help but have sex when you get the chance can you.”

Realizing that cuddle time was over, Unoma and Andrew sat themselves up with Andrew speaking up.

“Sorry… so how did it go? And where is Labareda?”

Serena looked over at Unoma as if to indicate her.

“Don’t know. I broke off from the group earlier so that I could go and get the supplies. I actually managed to get quite the amount. Its all stored in this magic bag of Labs, so we should be good for travel when we finally get on the road. Now all we need is to see if we can find a carriage that’s heading to Dragonia. How did that turn out Unoma?”

Andrew nodded when he heard Serena, an approving smile on her efficiency and speed. At the mention of the Dark Mage, Andrew turned his attention to Unoma, but he was very surprised to see a shocked expression on her face. That expression was directed at Serena, the twin-tail only looking at the mage curiously.

“Is something the matter Unoma?”

Catching herself when she was called, Unoma simply shook her head.

“Oh… Uh… it’s nothing… also, yes. I do have some information about Dragonia while Labareda went to go find a potential lead about a carriage. Let me fill you in on the details.”

For the next few moments or so, Unoma gave the group the details that she had managed to glen from the barkeeper, though it was still something of a small amount. Andrew only nodded when she got done.

“So… wild dragons are causing issues in the maw, and it’s causing problems for travelers, thus it’s decreasing the amount of people heading to Dragonia. That… could make getting a cart a challenge.”

Unoma nodded her head.

“Agreed. We’ll see what Lab turns up, but we might want to think about increasing camping supplies as well.”

Serena simply nodded her head.

“I actually already did that in the event we didn’t get a cart. But I gotta ask, is a cart really that necessary?”

Andrew nodded at her.

“Yeah. If we take into consideration that it takes three weeks on foot to get to Dragonia, then I’m pretty sure we can reduce that time by taking a carriage, and I like to think that time efficiency is one of our top goals here.”

Serena thought about it for a moment before she spoke up.

“Well, then maybe we should see about how long it might take to get somewhere else? Even if it takes a month to get to Trinimoc, it might be faster if we take a carriage.”

Andrew stopped for a moment only to bring his hand to his chin as he thought.

“That… huh… that might be a good thing to look into… maybe we should try to find Lab and let her know to also look for information about Trinimoc as well?”

Unoma hummed a little before she pointed at Andrew.

“Why send someone when you can just talk to her via the empathetic link?”

“You guys never told me how to do that.”

Unoma simply shook her head.

“It’s simple enough that you don’t really need to be taught it. All you have to do is concentrate on Labareda and think about talking to her. I actually would have thought you would have figured it out by now.”

Andrew shrugged his shoulders at her.

“Why? I never would have thought to do that, guy from a different world remember?”

However, despite saying that, Andrew opted to try to put it into practice, leaving Unoma to get dressed while Serena opted to look over everything they had in regards to the new supplies. Leaning back against the headboard of the bed, Andrew closed his eyes and found himself concentrating on his first familiar, a mental image of her quickly coming to mind while he tried to imagine chatting with her. Weirdly enough, he heard something in his mind.

_‘Master? Is that you?’_

A little surprised that he seemed to get her on his first try, Andrew was a little skeptical that he wasn’t just imagining things, thus he opted to mentally project his next words without much thought.

**_‘Testing testing. One, two, three. This is Andrew speaking, I would enjoy the privilege of plunging my potent protrusion into your pretty pussy.’_ **

For a moment, all he felt was some curiosity followed by mirth with a hint of amour.

_‘As happy as I am that you wish to partake in me Master, I believe getting our job done first should be of the higher priority would you not agree?’_

Kinda proud of himself for getting it on the first try, Andrew spoke up.

**_‘Sorry, was just testing to see if I had actually gotten in touch with you. Though we can certainly have some fun when you get back. Anyway, I’m calling you to let you know that Serena and Unoma are back here with me, Serena being done with getting supplies while Unoma let me in on what you guys found out about Dragonia. Have you managed to get any leads on a cart heading to Dragonia?’_ **

He felt some regret followed by her next words.

_‘Not yet. I’m actually standing outside the adventure guild right now. Was just about to head in to see if I could find anybody going that way. If I don’t find anything here, I’ll try to make my way to the front gate to see if I can find something there.’_

**_‘Sounds like a good plan, but me and the rest of the group where actually just discussing that if you can’t find anything going to Dragonia, that we might make our way to Trinimoc instead. Though that would depend on the information we manage to collect in regards to the elven capital.’_ **

Labareda let off some waves of understanding.

_‘I see… that makes sense. And you want me to find out about Trinimoc as well while I’m here?’_

**_‘If it’s not to much trouble. I’ll reward you for the effort my dear sweet familiar.’_ **

Lab actually chuckled to herself at that one.

_‘A reward for something so base? Master treats me so well, or perhaps you simply are horny?’_

She could feel some sheepish emotions across the link followed by what was no doubt lust.

**_‘Both really.’_ **

_‘Very well Master. I’ll see what I can find.’_

**_‘Many Thanks Labareda. Over and out.’_ **

Andrew opened his eyes, not feeling that that much time had passed since he got in contact with her. He saw that Unoma was looking at him with a curious expression on her face.

“So what did she say?”

“She hasn’t found anything yet, but she’ll see what she can find. Other then that, it’s just a waiting game for us at this point.”

Unoma nodded before she moved her way to the bed Aruma was on, the woman wanting to check up on the girl while Andrew proceeded to get himself dressed as well. Meanwhile Labareda, who was a good distance away from the inn, let out a low sigh as she turned her attention to the guild she was currently standing in front of. She had managed to finish up her chat with her master, her pride expanding from him using the empathetic link for the first time with her. Letting a content huff out, Labareda looked back at the guild before she quickly made her way in. Just like the time she had entered the tavern, the guild hall seemed to come to a hush a few moments after she had entered. She could only attribute it to the fact that she was referred to as a Baphomet, but just like last time, she didn’t mind the hushed whispers all that much. Making her way to the counter, Lab was amused to see that the receptionist was a cute young human female, maybe in her early twenties or late teens. The poor girl was flabbergasted at the entity that stood before her, and Lab knew it on account that a few seconds went by before the Familiar spoke up.

“Child, I know I’m attractive, but all of this-”

She moved her paws up and down her frame to indicate her picturesque body.

“- is for one man only.”

Realizing that she had been staring, The girl flubbed her speech for a moment before she managed to collect herself. 

“I-I-I apologize Ma’am! What brings you to the Adventurers guild today?”

Lab smiled sweetly at the girl before she twirled her furry digit.

“What brings me here today? Well I’m glad you asked. You see love, I was wondering if perhaps you had any information about people going up to Dragonia. Barring that, if you have any quests that would take me in that direction.”

For a moment, the Guild girl could only look in some confusion before her eyes lit up.

“Ah! I see… Truth be told, I do have something… buuuuuuuut…”

The girl drew out the last part of her sentence, as if she was hesitant to say anything about it. However, one does not just say something like that and expect Labareda to not poke further into it.

“But what? Speak up love.”

The girl only let out a low sigh followed by a moan of dread.

“I’m really not supposed to give out any quests to those who are not affiliated with the guild…”

The girl looked like she was ready to keel over in sheer internal panic, the woman trying to do her job despite the fact that a Baphomet had just asked her for something. Lab had to admit that the poor girl was just trying to do her due diligence in her job, but at the same time, if there was something she could use, she would do what she needed to get it.

“Oh come now, you only set up those rules so that those who didn’t have skill or power wouldn’t be undertaking something dangerous is that not correct?”

The girl stumbled in her words for a moment.

“Ah… Um… that is true… but…” 

Lab held up a paw to her before she shushed her.

“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… it’s alright love. I am a Baphomet after all, I’m sure that any ranking or dictation of strength you have set up for this quest of yours is something I easily surpass in terms of power and ability.”

The girl felt she could not refute the logic behind her words, the fact that it was ranked as a mid-tier quest meaning that for a mamono as powerful as a Baphomet, it wouldn’t be anything but a joke for her power.

“Well… ah… um… I see your point… but at the same time… we-we have to respect the client behind the quest as well… I have no idea if you have a vendetta against her or if-”

Before the girl could continue nor Lab speak up to try to coax the girl, the sound of a third voice behind Lab drew her attention that way.

“It’s alright, I’ve never met this woman before in my travels, and I can say for sure that a Baphomet wouldn’t have anything to do with my business competitors.”

Turning herself around, Lab looked to see that a raccoon like woman was standing at the entrance to one of the side rooms. She appeared to be dressed in an eastern garb of sorts, though Lab was more drawn to the overtone cast of her eyes, like she was wearing some kind of mask like she was always plotting something. However, Lab didn’t let her appearance set her for the time being and gave the woman a smile.

“Oh? I take it from your tone that you’re the contractor?”

The raccoon woman simply lowered her head momentarily in a bow before she stood back up.

“That would be correct. My name is Kuroi, a danuki looking for some help on a business venture of sorts. May I have the privilege of knowing the name of a potential partner?”

Lab only smiled at the Danuki in front of her before she crossed her arms.

“My name is Labareda.”

Kuroi nodded her head before she moved to the side.

“Labareda is it? A pleasure. Come, let us discuss the details of what we need in privet.”

Holding her hand up to indicate the room she was just in, Kuroi only smiled pleasantly at her. Labareda nodded at her before she made her way through the door, Kuroi closing it behind them both as Lab got ready for what would no doubt be an interesting job.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Labareda smiled warmly to herself, the content look on her face followed by the nuzzling she was doing leaving any who watched her with something of a warm and fuzzy feeling in there chest… if they where an outside party. To all those present though, not one was an outsider, thus her antics were irritating to Unoma while leaving Serena just a little bit jealous, though she was doing a good job of keeping it hidden. Andrew, who currently had Lab in his lap while the girl nuzzled warmly into his chest, couldn’t help but fondly stroke the top of her head.

“Praise me and call me a good girl Master. I did good did I not?”

Andrew only chuckled to himself as he used his other arm to scratch under her chin.

“Yes yes, you’re a wonderful Familiar and the best I could ever ask for.”

The annoyed huff indicated that Unoma was none too pleased with that remark, however, she couldn’t complain on account of having gotten a mana refill not but an hour or so ago. The reason for the groups current mood was on account of Labareda coming back and telling them she had managed to secure a cart going to Dragonia. However, she was not willing to divulge details until she got a reward for her hard work and effort. Thus leading to the current situation.

Andrew continued to pet and stroke his adorable familiar as he continued to speak.

“I’m more then willing to keep doing this for you for a good while longer, but why don’t you go ahead and fill us in on the details? Obviously getting a cart while at the Adventurers guild means we have some strings attached to it.”

Lab wrapped her arms around her master as he continued to pet, though she stopped nuzzling her face into his chest so she could speak.

“That would be correct master. We happen to be escorting a merchant cart. A raccoon woman of sorts named Kuroi, she called herself a Gyoubu Danuki, asked me to escort her cart to Dragonia and requested me to keep her and her merchandise safe.”

Andrew nodded his head while he moved his other hand away from her chin and started to rub her belly, getting a soft cooing noise out of her.

“I see… did you inform her of our numbers and the potential for an ailing girl?”

“I did. I informed her that we would have one magician, one swordwoman, myself, you, and Aruma. She said that it would be fine so long as we get to Dragonia in one piece along with her merchandise.”

Andrew nodded in understanding.

“Alright… anything else we should know?”

Lab had to think about it for a moment, Andrews rubbing and petting leaving her with a bit of a foggy mind. However, she shook it off momentarily to answer her master.

“Apparently we will be traveling with a large group. Along with ours, she told me that she had two more groups coming with us. They happen to be three man teams, one being a monster hunting squad, and the other a hero group.”

Unoma, who had been silent this whole time, spoke up at the mention of the hero group.

“That doesn’t sound like a good thing for us. Dear Masters energy is still leaking, so won’t they cause issues for us.”

Labareda simply shook her head.

“I informed the merchant that Master was an ex-member of the Noir. She didn’t seem all that perturbed by it, and Kuroi said she would take care of it.”

Serena let a low hum escape her lips.

“I don’t know exactly what she plans on doing in regards to Andrew… but I guess we don’t have a choice in the matter. By the by, when do we leave?”

“She said that she had been lookin for one more group. With us tagging along, we’ll be leaving as early as tomorrow morning. I told her we would be good for that. Of course, I only said that in hopes that you managed to get everything we needed Serena?”

The red head only huffed smugly at Labareda.

“Of course I did, and a good bit extra as well. We should be able to take care of a group of eight or more for a month with the amount of stuff I got.”

Unoma, who had been sitting next to Serena, reached up and gently caressed her cheek, leaning in and gently whispering into her ear.

“That’s a good girl… you deserve a reward for your efforts.”

Serena ended up shivering from the touch and the insinuated meaning. Though as eager as Andrew was to watch some girl on girl, he had to speak up.

“Alright. Since it seems we have everything in order rather quickly, I think we can safely leave tomorrow. In the meantime though, I think I’ll go and head out for a bit myself. I won’t go far mind you, but I want to be able to get a bearing on things around here.”

Lab, who was currently sitting in her master lap, looked up at him with a partially annoyed expression.

“This is a bad idea on grounds of your bad habits, and of what the world currently thinks of your type of power Master.”

The both of them looked at each other for a moment, Lab looking annoyed while Andrew had a neutral expression on his face. It only lasted a moment longer before she felt a hand start to scratch behind her fluffy ears, instantly turning her annoyed expression into a fluffy content one. Andrew could only smile at her while he did this.

“Relax, I’ll be fine alright? I won’t go very far and it’s because of this power of mine that I need to get a handle on how people will treat it. It’ll show me how I’ll need to act or behave.”

Unoma, who had managed to pull Serena into a lap pillow and was currently stroking the girls head, looked over to Andrew and nodded at him.

“I think it would be fine if you did so. So long as you didn’t cause trouble. Just keep your presence and ability in mind while you explore and I think you’ll be fine.”

Andrew smiled at Unoma before he stopped petting Labareda, the demonic familiar finally able to think coherently without being assaulted with chin scratches and head pats.

“So, that’s that. I won’t be gone for very long, maybe an hour at most.”

Lab only looked at her master for a moment longer before she simply sighed in resignation.

“Very well. Just be safe, don’t do something stupid, and get into contact with myself or Unoma of anything does happen to go wrong.”

Smiling at his familiar, Andrew hugged her close before he gave her a kiss, Labareda not expecting the feeling of lips on her mouth so suddenly. Just as quickly as he initiated though, he broke off.

“Will do.”

Putting aside a stunned Baphomet, Andrew got to his feet and made his way over to Unoma, the Dark Mage a little confused before she to was also lip locked for a moment. However, she was much less stunned then Lab was, though she was still just a little surprised. Before either of them could really react to this, Andrew had already made his way out the door, leaving two of three people curious about what just happened. Serena couldn’t help but smile at them both.

“Surprised to see you both so flustered.”

Lab only looked to the other red head with minor annoyance.

“He normally doesn’t do that. So it’s very surprising when he does.”

Unoma smiled before she looked to the door Andrew just left from.

“I suppose it means he’s getting more comfortable with being the initiator. I certainly don’t mind.”

Labs annoyance levels went from minor, to escalated.

“I bet you do you damn slut. I smell his mana all over you.”

Unoma only smiled smugly at Labareda, the red haired demon girl grinding her teeth in frustration. However, Unoma stopped smiling at her and spoke up.

“Speaking of Mana…”

Instantly understanding what she was talking about, Labareda stopped grumbling at her, and with perfect unity, both the Baphomet and Dark Mage turned to look at Serena. Needless to say, the sudden diversion of attention to herself weirded her out a little bit, causing Serena to sit up from Unomas lap in fidget uncomfortably.

“Um… why are the both of you looking at me like that?”

For the next few tense moments, neither one of them said anything, the stares of the other two boring a hole into her soul. However, one low sigh from Unoma put a stop to that.

“I want to apologize to you.”

Lab raised her paw in the air.

“Likewise.”

Now going from uncomfortable to straight up confused, the twin tail could only look between the both of them for an answer. One in which Unoma was glad to give.

“Myself and Labareda… we were well aware of what was happening with you when we had first met. Honestly though, we didn’t think anything of it at the time because we didn’t expect you to stay around for long. But then you made an indication that you would be traveling with us, and even then though we where happy about having a new body for master to be around, we didn’t think anything of your transformation.”

Lab spoke up next.

“Yeah… we kinda don’t have the same values as a normal human would, so we honestly thought it was an okay thing for you to transform like you where. We never gave thought to the mental aspect behind what was going on with you, and then we began noticing your interest in Master and it was pretty much just ignored.”

“Or at least it was until Dear Master informed us that he had told you of what was happening. We figured you would have understood the longer it went on, but… honestly, we should have been taking your feelings as a human into consideration on the matter like Andrew did.”

Serena was mentally rather shocked at the two of them. She wasn’t angry or anything, but more on the fact that on one hand, they had been treating her issue like no big deal. But on the other, they where apologizing for not taking her feelings into account on the matter. Which kinda left her in a weird place not sure how to feel right that moment.

“Um… well… It’s not really a big deal or anything… we’ll not anymore.”

Unoma cut her off there.

“But it is, if we had been just a little more understanding, then you wouldn’t have had to go and sleep with another man to confirm what we already knew about you.”

If she had water in her mouth, Serena would have done a spit take. However, she went with the next best thing in that she jumped at being called out on that.

“Wha?! Slept with- no! No, no! I didn’t-”

Lab cut her off next.

“It’s alright. We don’t blame you for it, it’s easy to tell from the scent on you and the other mans mana on your body that you where with another man not too long ago. Honestly, Unoma had the right of it that we should have stuck with you earlier, but I said that you would be fine. For that, I’m really sorry.”

Serena was now beet red at this point, the woman foundering about for words for the situation.

“No! No no no! You don’t understand! Yes, I was with a guy, and there was nudity and light petting, but it didn’t go anything beyond that!”

For a moment, the other two women looked to her, then to each other, then back to her.

“It’s alright darling. We don’t judge based on that. I mean, I’m no saint in regards to sexual chastity myself, having lost my own virginity well before I was even thirteen.”

Serena felt that was a pretty crazy thing to admit right then and there, but it wasn’t the main point of there current discussion.

“I’m telling you, I didn’t have sex with the guy! You can use magic or what not to check yourself if that’s what it takes!”

Both familiars looked at her before some grins crossed there faces, and suddenly, Serena felt like she had walked right into a trap. Both of them stood up quickly.

“Well…”

“If you don’t mind us checking…”

Serena tried to stand up as if to run away, but the moment her hindquarters left the bed, she felt something get under her arms and restrain them followed by a pair of legs wrapping themselves around her midriff. She looked behind her to see that Labareda had her restrained while forcefully pulling her back down to the bed. She attempted a momentary struggle before she remembered who it was exactly that had her in an arm lock. This in turn caused her to look at Unoma, who was standing over her with a smile on her face.

“Alright then… let’s get these pesky clothes out of the way shall we?”

Serena was going to say that getting her armor off without Lab removing herself would have been impossible, but the next moment and her gear just magically vanished from her body, leaving her as bare as the day she was born. A moment later and she heard all her armor and clothing clatter to the floor off to the side, indicating that Unoma must have warped them off. Now she was fully exposed, leaving her bright red as she stammered out her words.

“W-w-w-What the hell are you doing?!”

Unoma put a finger to her cheek in mock puzzlement.

“Oh? I thought we would go ahead and do an examination of your body to prove the validity of your claims. You even gave us the go ahead for it.”

“I meant in a magic sense! Not this clear invasion of personal space!”

Unoma only bent down between Serena’s legs, the girl unable to close them on account of some force keeping them wide open for her.

“But I am about to use magic to test your claim. It just needs actual physical touch to work is all.”

Serena would have called bullshit on that claim, but before she could even begin that protest, she felt a very familiar touch on her lower lips. Unoma began to trace her finger along Serena’s pussy, the feeling of being touched causing the girl to unintentionally feel amorous.

Unoma continued to play with the red heads pussy, the woman smiling at the girl as she looked right up at her.

“So… what all did this man do with you? You can’t say he did nothing seeing as I can feel a foreign energy on you.”

Serena didn’t respond immediately, the girl a little too lost in the feeling of her cunt being played with. However, her mind did register the question a moment later, and she only shifted.

“N-nothing much really… like I said… it was just some petting stuff…”

Unoma smiled slyly to herself as her fingers worked themselves away from the outer lips and directly onto Serenas opening.

“ _Just_ petting you say? None of… this?”

She punctuated that point by gently pushing one of her fingers into Serenas drooling sex, the red head letting out a loud moan as the feeling of Unomas finger entering her. Unoma grinned devilishly at the sound, the woman slowly pushing her finger further and further in until she couldn’t go any further.

“My my… it seems awfully wet in here. Is the memory of being touched like this turning you on?”

Serena bit her lower lip, the girl not willing to answer the Dark Mage. However, this resistance only caused Unoma to pull out and push back in, Serena unwilling to talk, but most definitely willing to let out her cute moans and gasps of lust. For the next few minutes, this was all that was done, Serena restrained by Labareda while Unoma simply had fun using her finger to penetrate the young woman and making her squeal. However, Labareda opted to speak up a few moment later.

“So? Is she a virgin?”

Unoma, almost having forgotten the whole reason for this, started for a moment before she sheepishly smiled.

“Ah right… we where checking that weren’t we…”

Putting her own amusement aside, the woman extracted her fingers from the twin tail before she put both hands on either side of the girls wet sex. She then slowly open and up the little heavens hole and inspected closely with both her eyesight and magesight. For Serena, this was even more embarrassing then when the silver haired mage was molesting her. But a quick hum later caused the Dark Mage to look up at the other Familiar and shake her head.

“Looks like the hymen was ripped already.”

Serena was slightly surprised by this, but she felt Lab unrestrained her arm and instead give her a hug instead.

“Oh you poor thing, losing your virginity to some man outside of our knowledge. It’s alright, myself and Unoma will tenderly love on you to erase the discomfort you felt.”

All of this was said in a somewhat teasing tone, causing the other red head to flush even more before she loudly spoke up.

“I don’t even know if I was a virgin before I lost my memories!”

The feeling of something wet on her pussy caused her to tingle and look down at the Dark Mage currently licking her pussy.

“Oh we know. We both just enjoy teasing you is all. But we are sincere in our apology. And for that apology, both Labareda and myself are going to give you the tender love you so deserve amongst women.”

Serena wasn’t sure what Unoma meant by that, but the next thing she knew, she felt a gentle bite on her neck, the girl turning in enough time to see Labareda begin to line her nape with kisses. The next thing she felt where soft and fussy velvet pads dancing across her naked nipples, the girl letting out yet another loud sexual moan. Unoma herself went back to licking the red heads pussy, all of these sensations bringing Serena to the ecstasy she was used to. Even now, this felt so much better then when Sergio had done it, and she still wasn’t sure why. She wasn’t going to question it, her loud moans starting to echo out in the room. Unoma and Labareda knew that this was going to be a long thing, so they opted to keep it slow and sensual for until Andrew got back. Sadly, Serena was not aware of that, thus she was in for a long and pleasant rest of the day.

Meanwhile, Andrew had made his way outside the inn and had begun walking around as he had intended. Mostly so he could get a feel for the city lay out should it be important to know where to go, and to also gauge the reactions of people who could feel his energy. Just as he had expected though, when he started making his way into town and started to pass larger crowds of people, he got many an uncomfortable look as he would pass by. Though some just outright tried to ignore him. However, those that did look at him he opted to smile and wave at in a hope that it might lessen the amount distaste people might feel for him. He wasn’t sure if it was effective though. However, he wasn’t one to let it get him down and continued walking. Soon enough though, he had found himself standing on the edge of a beach. Obviously a port side town would have a beach, and it didn’t look any different from any other beach he had ever been to in his home world, but he still found it rather interesting to see on account of the aquatic mamono that seemed to be all over the place. Despite not really being dressed for a dive in the ocean, Andrew opted to walk along said beach if only for the novelty of doing so. The sound of surf was a calming noise after all. Though just like in the rest of the city, he was met with some uncomfortable gazes as he would walk past. Again, he wasn’t going to let it bother him. However, that wasn’t to say he wasn’t doing some looking of his own. There where many varieties of sea based mamono along the shore here. Many were mermaids as he would have expected, maybe a mershark or two if he was guessing, but there where also some he wasn’t familiar with. Like a woman with tentacles like and octopus for a lower half, nor a blue skinned woman with flippers for feet, or some kind of jellyfish woman. It was fascinating to say the least, but he knew he couldn’t idle around and people(?) watch all day. Taking one last look out onto the beach, Andrew was about to make his way back into town when he couldn’t help but notice a small girl. She looked about the same age as Aruma, though she was most definitely human, so it wasn’t her looks that had caught his attention. It was more her look and the way she was holding herself, like she wanted to come up to someone and say something, but looking far to nervous and afraid to do just that. She looked like a child who had done something bad, but didn’t want to be caught. However, Andrew could help but feel that maybe she might want to talk and thus made his way over to the little girl. She was surprised when she saw him coming forward toward her, but the bright and gentle smile he was giving her caused her to relax a little bit. By the time he got there, the girl was looking up at him with a nervous fidget in her step and a defensive stare. Andrew, still smiles, opted to start off the conversation.

“Well hello there little girl. Is everything alright? I couldn’t help but see that you looked nervous about something.”

The girl didn’t say anything at first, her eyes seemingly looking at him, but at the same time would look off to her side. Noticing that occasional glance, Andrew looked off to the side that she glanced at, but he didn’t see anything that might cause such a nervous reaction from a small child. Deciding to see if he could perhaps get her to talk, Andrew got on his knees and met her at eye level. He had learned that talking at the same height as small children opened them up more.

“I assure you that I can help with whatever the issue might be. And if I can’t help, then maybe I can find someone who can.”

Andrew tried saying all of this in a calm and soothing voice, the girl somewhat relaxing at his tone. For a minute or two, she didn’t say anything, though Andrew kept up his smile and patiently waited for her to do something outside of staring at him nervously. Thankfully his patience was rewarded when the girl grabbed him by the sleeve and and started to try to pull him, as if to lead him. Getting the cue, Andrew stood back up and started to follow her, the girl pulling desperately on his sleeve in an attempt to get him to hurry. Not sure what this was all about, Andrew quickened his pace as the girl pulled him along. They continued along the beach for a good distance, the amount of people and Mamono growing more and more scarce as they continued along. After about fifteen to twenty minutes of walking, or so Andrew assumed, they had finally come to a stretch of beach that wasn’t inhabited by anybody.Andrew could see that the beach seemed to stretch well outside of the city limits, and they had obviously bypassed those. It was here that the girl finally let go of Andrews sleeve and ran off a distance ahead. Opting to follow her, Andrew made his way after the girl until he saw her come to a halt by what looked to be an indent in the sandy shore. He became even more curious when he saw her drop to her knees and look out over the edge of it. Opting to not remain in the dark, Andrew walked up next to her and looked down. All he could do after that was whistle to himself at the depth of the hole in front of him. What he had mistaken for a mere indent in the sand turned out to be a hole about seven or so feet deep. Or that’s what he guessed the depth to be, however, his concern with the depth was turned secondary when he saw what looked to be a young child in said hole, sprawled unconscious in the wet sand. They looked to be a young lad, maybe the same age as the girl who dragged Andrew here, and maybe sharing some of the same features.

Andrew could only guess that they where siblings or something of the sort and turned to the young girl who was now looking at him.

“I think I see what the problem is now… you need me to hop down there and help him right?”

The girl was almost in tears at this point while she nodded her head. Andrew didn’t need to hear another word before he simply nodded in answer. Standing up and looking over the edge for a moment, Andrew moved himself as close as he could before he sat himself down on said edge and pretty much scooted himself off. Thankfully the edge wasn’t a sheer drop, it being more of a steep slope. Thankfully he had some control of himself as he slid down until he hit the bottom, thankfully right next to the young boy. Not even taking a moment to wipe the wet sand off, Andrew crawled up next to the boy and immediately checked for a pulse to see if the kid was breathing. Just holding his hand up to the kids face informed him that the boy was breathing, and checking for a pulse got Andrew a positive result.

“So… alive… but I can’t tell if he has a concussion or not. Let’s check and see if he broke anything…”

Doing just that, Andrew delicately examined and prodded the kids body for major lacerations, bruising, or breaks. He didn’t find any places that looked cut or broken, but he did find a rock under the boys head that may have lead to his present state. Thankfully the boy had a very thick head of hair, else Andrew was sure the kids head would be split wide open. Sadly though, this was the best he could do at the moment in regards to his rather limited medical knowledge and looked back up at the lip of the hole. The girl was still there, looking incredibly nervous. Andrew nodded at her once before he stood back up.

“He appears alright for the most part. However, I’m no medical expert, so he might be suffering from something internal. I’m going to pick him up and try to hand him up to you Alright? He can’t stay down here, and I think it would be best to get him out of the hole so someone can look at him. After we get him up, run and find someone else to take him to a medical professional Alright?”

The girl didn’t appear to fully understand, but she understood enough. Seeing that, Andrew turned back around and gently picked up the boy. Thankfully he was quite light, so Andrew didn’t have any real issues picking him up. The more pressing issue came when he had to lift him as high as he could go. He couldn’t just toss the boy like a sack up over the edge, thus he had to rely on the girl for some help. Thankfully she was able to get a hold of the boys shirt and with a great effort, was able to drag him out the rest of the way with Andrews help.

“Now make sure you lay him out flat with his face up okay? Once you do that, go and find someone who can either cast healing magic, or someone who has decent medical knowledge. If you can do it on your own, find someone who can help.”

Andrews only answer was the girl looking over the edge one more time and nodding quickly with a desperate determination in her eyes. After that he watched her vanish again to what he hoped would be a quick run to find some help. For s few moments, he could only look up at the clear blue sky above him as he tried to think of his next move.

“Alright… let’s hope she finds someone… in the meantime… let’s see about getting out of here.”

Humming to himself, Andrew looked up at the edge and couldn’t help but notice that he might be able to run up. Though it was steep, he still could potentially crawl up if the running gig didn’t work. The major issue with that idea was that the sand was wet and rather loose, so it would easily slide if he tried. However…

“Won’t hurt to try.”

Was all he said before he took a few steps back before dashing with as much of his strength as he could. He was very surprised when he took off much faster then he was used to, his body feeling very light as he dug the first footfall into the loose sand. What he failed to realize was that he was putting an enormous amount of power into his feet when he did this, and the rigidity of the wet sand was less then desirable for such force. Thus his foot sunk itself right into the slope up to his knee, practically causing him to trip over himself and right into the side of the wall. He didn’t get back up immediately, his body trying to take in what it was that had just happened. However, he wasn’t one to think about it for very long on account of the answer being very simple. He couldn’t run up like he planned with the amount of power in his body. Thus this left him with the next thing to pop into his head.

That being to try to slowly crawl his way up the slope. As one might have guessed, when he tried to do so, mother nature’s slippery and sandy cunt proved to much for him to work his way out of, the sand only pushing him back down when he would get a little to high. He tried a few other things, but they didn’t avail him much either, thus leaving him to lay flat on his back and staring up into the deep blue sky yet again.

**‘Welp… looks like I’ll need to be rescued… I was kinda hoping that I wouldn’t need to call Labareda or Unoma for something as silly as this… but I guess now is as good a time as any.’**

Before he could go about doing that though, he found his attention wandering to the lip of the hole he was in, where he was slightly confused, then surprised when he saw a face looking down at him with a smiling expression on its face. Said face was one that he had no recollection of ever seeing, a young looking woman of what he surmised to be mid teen with long platinum blonde hair looking down at him with nice blue eyes. Odd thing though was the slightly pointed ears on her head and the long satan like horns coming out of the side of her head. He didn’t say anything on account of him being a little surprised, but he couldn’t get a word in seeing as she started talking first.

“Well hey there handsome. Happy to see you finally noticed me.”

Andrew didn’t say anything for a few moments after, only opting to stare at the rather attractive woman looking down on him. However, his mind wasn’t coming up with anything for the situation, thus he opted for default.

“Nice to meet you. Sorry it took so long, but I am in the middle of a conundrum at the moment, so I hope you would forgive me for that.”

The girl only smiled at him as she continued to look at him.

“No problem. But ah… if you don’t mind my asking, do you need some help getting out of this hole?”

Andrew only chuckled.

“I would if given the choice, but before anything of the sort is done, do you mind taking care of the boy that happens to be up there? He took a nasty fall as far as I could tell, and I sent what I assume was his sister to find some help.”

“Actually, I already took care of that. The girl having found me a little ways up the beach. Thankfully I happen to be rather adapt at white magic, so I came along and healed the boy. I just sent them on there way actually.”

Andrew took a moment to process that, but when he did, he couldn’t help but smile.

“Well that’s good… thanks for the help… Ah… Ms…?”

Andrew left that question hanging, but the blonde girl answered.

“Zizou. You can call me Zizou.”

“Ah. Got it. Nice to meet you Zizou, and thanks for the help if the offer is still on the table. My name is Andrew by the way.”

The girl kept on grinning, but she stood up rather then keep leaning over the edge of the hole.

“No problem! And I’ll be right down!”

Andrew watched her stand up, but she vanished over the edge when she did. Though the sound of something large and almost leathery beating the air could be heard next. The next moment and Andrew saw Zizou come over the edge of the hole, her large black demonic like wings beating from just behind her back. Even more impressive was the rather thick tail that seemed to help her maintain her balance as she descended, though it was more like a demon tail with a heart shaped tip. Her body was waifish to say the least, though it was still rather nice to look at. Though her article of clothing was several levels of erotic and rather unusual in regards to functionality. She wore what looked to be a micro sling bikini with a very heavy emphasis on the micro portion. It was practically string with thumb sized cloth hiding her nipples and a slightly larger cloth about as wide as two fingers covering her lower lips. Even more unusual was the armored gauntlet and greaves on her arms and legs. Andrew could only attribute her to some kind of succubus.

Touching down gently next to him, Zizou looked up at Andrew as she curled her wings around her hips, acting somewhat like a wing skirt. Andrew couldn’t help but admire the look, though he found that the girl not even being half his height was something of an amusing point. That was neither here nor there though, and Andrew only hummed to himself a moment later.

“Alright then… I guess if you’re going to be helping me out… how are we going to go about doing that?”

“Easy. I’ll fly you out!”

Andrew only looked at her for a moment with a neutral gaze, though she seemed able to read his mind.

“Don’t worry, I’m stronger then I look. I am a lieeeeeeeeee… an archsuccubus after all!”

Andrew was slightly curious about why she seemed to try to correct herself halfway through her sentence, but he opted to not worry about it.

“Alright, that’s fine then. Take me away then.”

The girl only smiled ear to ear before she spread her wings and took off again, only she grabbed one of his free hands and pulled him up rather easily. Andrew felt he should have been surprised by her strength, but at the same time, he really wasn’t on account of Labareda and how strong his familiar could be. Not even thirty seconds later though and the both of them where above the lip of the hole with Andrew touching down safely and Zizou landing in front of him.

Dusting himself off quickly, Andrew then turned his attention to the succubus girl.

“Well, Zizou, you certainly helped me out of a rather uncomfortable situation there. I was afraid I would have needed to call one of my familiars to come pull me out, and funny enough, we had just gotten done talking about me not getting in trouble again.”

The girl only smiled again before she raised her hand and gave him a V for victory sign.

“Glad to help!”

Only smiling at her in return, her grin was infectious, Andrew opted to speak up.

“Again, thank you, and since you did help me, is there anything I might help you with or do for you in return? I’d be willing to do something in my power for your help.”

For a moment, the succubus looked at him curiously before she started to think.

“Hum… really? I was mostly doing it to help you out since you helped that little boy and girl… but if your willing to offer a reward… mind if I ask you a question?”

“Sure, go right ahead.”

Zizou nodded in affirmation of his words.

“Alright… are you perhaps one of the Montre Noir? You give off the energy of one of those guys after all.”

Andrew had to think about that for a moment before he spoke up.

“Ex member actually. I left in order to pursue my own life after a point. Though sadly I’m bound by oath not to speak of it or anything that we happen to do.”

Zizou only let out a small huff as she crossed her arms.

“I should have figured. The last guy from the Noir I tried talking to pretty much told me the same thing.”

Andrew felt he really lucked out on that one, not actually having known anything about the Montre Noir at all. A lucky break for him in that regard. Zizou only shrugged her shoulders before she dropped her arms.

“Oh well. That wasn’t my real question anyway. My real question is, how many women do you have? Besides that foul energy, I can detect a few other energy signatures on you as well.”

That certainly wasn’t a question he was expecting, but at the same time, Andrew felt he was obligated to answer.

“Well… if we’re talking how many women I travel with, it would be four. As for how many of them I’ve actually slept with. That would be two of them, and they just so happen to be my familiars from long and convoluted circumstances.”

Zizou’s eyes lit up at that, though Andrew was not sure why.

“Really now… that’s fascinating… also, can I take it that your actually pretty strong? Your energy is very potent looking after all, and such a strong energy gives rise to a powerful body.”

“Eh… not to sure, haven’t explored the depths of what I can and can’t do. My first familiar tells me to watch myself all the time, only she can really handle my physical strength if I go all out with it.”

The girls eyes only lit up further at that. However, Andrew felt his eyes turn away from her face, and more toward the rest of her body.

“It’s rather rude of me to do so since I haven’t really done anything for you… but do you mind if I ask a question of my own?”

“Sure! I don’t mind at all!”

“Alright… if your okay with that… how do you not have a wardrobe malfunction? That sling bikini of yours looks like it would slip away from your tits super easy.”

The girl looked down at her article of clothing before she looked back up at him and did a little twirl.

“Magic!”

Andrew felt that would have been the answer to come out of her mouth, but he couldn’t help but ask that particular question anyway.

“Cool… anyway, can see what’s under it?”

The girl didn’t react to his words at first, but her smile went wide when she was able to register what he said.

“Maybe… maybe not. Tell you what. Next time we meet, I’ll totally let you see my nude body… maybe even let you touch it.”

“Just touching? Not any further?”

Zizou could only giggle at him.

“Oh I like you. Anyway, I need to get going. I have a place to be, and this proved to be a decent distraction. If you ever happen to visit Makai, hit me up there Alright?”

Andrew nodded at her, though he wasn’t sure where Makai might be. He would have to ask Lab or Unoma about it when he got back to the inn.

“Sure thing. See you then Zizou.”

“Later Andrew!”

With that said, Andrew watched her take off into the air and glide away into town, leaving him with a big grin on his face.

“Huh… nice gal… and body. I’m going to have to keep her in mind… Makai huh…”

Those thoughts quickly fell away though when he remembered what time it was getting to be.

“Ah shit. I need to get back before Lab gets upset with me.”

With that thought in his mind, Andrew quickly made his way back to the inn. Thankfully the scolding was mild at best, though Andrew couldn’t help but notice that Serena looked absolutely blissed out when he got back. He could only think that was compliments of Unoma and Labareda. The rest of the day was spent double checking that they had everything and that they wouldn’t be needing anything else before they set off tomorrow. Andrew then spent a little time trying to control his power, followed by some cuddling before the group quickly went to bed. The next day came rather quickly for the group, though thankfully everything had been prepared the day before. So all they had to do was clean themselves up, pay, and then check out of the inn they where at. After they got done with that, they grabbed a bite to eat for everyone before Labareda showed them the location that they needed to meet Kuroi at.

Thankfully the location was beyond the gate out of town and a little up the main road a ways. They managed to find the location when they saw the large canopy top cart being pulled by what looked to be a massive demon boar of sorts. Oddly enough though, the only person there was the Danuki herself, who had a smile on her face when she saw the group. Or more specifically Labareda.

“Ah, there you are. The first group to arrive. I applaud you on your punctuality in this case. Though I don’t believe we will be waiting very long for the rest to show up.”

Labareda nodded in understanding before she stood off to the side and used one hand to indicate the rest of the group.

“Good, the earlier we get moving, the faster we get there. Anyway, here is the rest of the group as I indicated yesterday in our talks. The silver haired looking bimbo and the red head twintail will be the rest of the guard from our group.”

The Danuki looked to the other two before she nodded approvingly.

“Excellent. They both look very strong, which puts me quite at ease… and thus I take it that you are her Master?”

That question had been directed at Andrew himself, thus causing Andrew to nod his head in answer.

“That would be correct. Though I’m not gonna be very good in a fight sadly, so I hope you won’t expect much from me. I will try to do my best to help out though.”

The Danuki simply nodded.

“I’m sure you’ll help in your own way… also, I take it the small celestial child on the swordsmans back is the one who is ill?”

Andrew looked over to see Serena, who in turn had carried Aruma the way here, the poor girl still out. Andrew turned back and simply nodded.

“You would be correct. Is there any chance we might be able to let her rest in your cart?”

Kuroi looked to the girl before she looked to her cart.

“Hum… I’m sure I can find some room for her in there. Far be it from me to force you to carry the poor girl all the way. However, I will find and make space for her, and you all will not rummage in my cart understood? I have a lot of precious merchandise in there, and I would rather it not be stolen or damaged.”

Andrew agreed with a nod of his head.

“That’s fine.”

The Danuki smiled at him before she she turned on her heels and made her way for her cart, where she disappeared behind the flap and started to rustle around.

For a moment, Andrew didn’t say anything, but a thought crossed his mind as he heard Kuroi moving items around.

“Hey Labareda… it might be rather late to be asking this, but what exactly is she transporting?”

“She didn’t specify on what exactly it was she was peddling, but she said it was a lot of rare herbs and spices from across the sea. She said she also was transporting other rare items as well, though she didn’t indicate what exactly.”

Andrew simply nodded before the sound of Kuroi’s voice brought his attention back to the cart.

“I have made some room, so you may bring the child here.”

Not wasting any time, Serena headed for the cart, where she then helped Aruma get situated in a bed of what looked to be furs. Though Serena was slightly curious about what all the other items were, she didn’t bother asking seeing as it wasn’t her business. After that, both Serena and Kuroi hopped out of the cart, where Andrew spoke up.

“Excellent. Sorry for the trouble.”

“Not at all. I have a fondness for children as many Mamono do.”

Andrew smiled at her.

“Still, thanks. Or would you prefer if I said _Arigato gozaimasu_.”

For a moment, Kuroi was a little surprised, but she only chuckled a moment later.

“A rather heavy accent in your thanks, but I still appreciate your attempt at thanking me in my home tongue. And don’t worry, you may simply speak in common from now on rather then that of Zipangu.”

Andrew simply nodded, but he had honestly been just throwing that phrase out there cause she had looked Japanese. He wasn’t expecting her to actually know what he had said. However, he had heard the term Zipangu before from Alyssa in the Shadow Labyrinth, so he was starting to draw a comparison here. However, he didn’t spend anymore time on it as the group started to get itself situated while they waited for whoever else was supposed to show up. It wasn’t until about an hour later before they had seen the next group show up. Unlike his own group, Andrew noted that they only had two people with them, and that they both looked to have come from the same place Kuroi had come from. Zipangu if he recalled correctly. The group consisted of two women, with one of them dressed in Shrine Priestess garb while the other wore a Yakuta. Andrew along with Serena couldn’t help but eye them curiously as they started talking to Kuroi in there home language. Though the only one doing any talking with the merchant was the long black haired young woman dressed in shrine maiden clothing. The silver haired woman in a Yukata was looking at the rest of who was here, her eyes lingering on Andrew for a moment longer before she turned back to the black haired girl. Andrew watched on for a moment longer before the two women got done talking with Kuroi, though oddly enough, the Danuki pointed at Andrew for some reason, causing the two women to look at him before they went back to talking. Thankfully this went on for only a few more minutes before some kind of agreement was made and the two Japanese styled women broke away and went to the cart to hang out. However, Kuroi motioned for Andrew and Labareda to come over, something Lab only did when she saw her Master was doing as asked.

When they got there, Kuroi started the conversation off.

“So, I don’t know how much of that conversation you were able to pick out, but I decided to let you know a few things in regards to those two.”

Andrew only nodded in understanding while Labareda only mildly payed any attention.

“Alright then. So what do we need to know?”

“First and foremost, this is the group of Monster slayers I hired. The young woman with the black hair adorned in the _miko_ garb is Amanomiya Koyoi, a girl from a long line of monster slayers. The women with her is Sazanak Ieyasu. I don’t know much about Sazanak-dono, but she has been traveling with Amanomiya-dono for as long they have been in the business. I went ahead and informed them both about your special circumstances, upon which they informed me that it wouldn’t be a problem. However, when you get the chance, you should probably introduce yourself along with your group at some point in the near future. We all will be traveling together for a few weeks after all.”

Andrew could only agree with Kuroi while Labareda only huffed lightly.

“I’ll not try to go out of my way to get to ‘now the both of them, but if Master so wishes to, I won’t hinder you.”

Andrew acknowledged what Lab was saying and looked to the two women by the cart. Amanomiya seemed to have sat herself down and had pulled out small slips of paper and had begun to write on them with an ink brush. Andrew could only assume she was making some kind of orientalists talisman of sorts. While he had been staring, he noted that Sazanak was also eyeing him. However, when she noticed that she had his attention, she smiled gently before waving at him. Andrew waved back at her before he noted that Koyoi had said something to the woman, drawing her attention back to her partner. That was about as much interaction as his group was going to get for the time being, and thus this left everyone to wait for the last group to arrive. It wasn’t until almost an hour later that the last group finally arrived. They had seemingly been rushing when Unoma had spotted them first. When she had pointed them out, Andrew found himself looking at them to examine them much as he had the previous two women.

Just like Koyoi’s group, this group seemed to be made up of all women who looked to be in the early twenties. Andrew had started to notice that a lot of women looked very youthful in this world. Even back in Gwent nobody looked a day over thirty or so. But that was an important factor right now. The group consisted of three women, and unlike the Japanese looking group, this one was more heavily armored. Though it doesn’t take much to be more armored then a group that wore nothing but cloth. The group had been rushing to get here, but even from here, Everyone could hear them.

“Dammit Michele, would it have killed you to at least wake up on time!”

“I said I was sorry dammit! Stop harping on the details!”

The two women who had spoken up where the at the forefront of the group, a long silver haired women yelling at a long blonde haired woman with a brunette with equally long hair pulling up the rear.

The brunette spoke up when she saw the carriage.

“Stop your arguing you two! It looks like our employer is still here, thank the gods.”

Legging it the rest of the way before the group of three came to a stop, Andrew and his group looked on in interest as they came to a stop, huffing from the run. Andrew could only internally applauded them for running the whole way in medium armor as they had. However, Kuroi didn’t look as pleased.

“Excela. We were meant to depart at a much earlier time then now. Why is it that your group is the last to arrive despite being the first hired?”

The silver haired women, having caught her breath, looked to Kuroi with a great deal of nervousness on her face.

“I apologize. Due to unforeseen circumstances, one of our members ended up rather… disposed last night.”

Andrew and Unoma couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Normally that was talk for she had either had crazy sex, or she had drunk herself into a stupor. And judging from the way the blonde was holding her head, they could guess who had drunk themselves silly. Kuroi only looked at Excela with a look of annoyance. However, she only let out a sigh.

“Very well. I have taken such a thing into account for our travels. This will only delay us by a short amount. Something we can easily make up if we quicken our pace. But now that you and yours are here, we may begin. I will give you ten or so minutes to get ready to depart seeing as you must have left in a hurry. But we will delay no longer. This goes to everyone here.”

Labareda nodded her head in understanding before she spoke up.

“That’s fine, our group has long since been good to go.”

Sazanaka spoke up for the first time as she spoke in very fluent English.

“Milady and myself are ready to depart at a moments notice. Just give the word.”

She had sounded very elegant, like a lady from a noble house or something. He had to admit he liked it, though more perverse thoughts of wondering what she sounded like when she moaned wormed there way in. Waving those thoughts aside, Andrew looked on at the group, the blonde and the brunette having finally managed to catch there breath. Kuroi simply let out an annoyed huff as she went to check on her own things. Everyone somewhat kept to themselves, but the group from Zipangu and Andrews own group where amusing themselves by watching the latecomers.

“Are you sure you grabbed everything before we left the inn?”

“Of course I did, Julietta made damn sure that I got everything.”

The brunette, now called Juliette, simply nodded at Excela.

“I did. Even if Michele was hungover, a made sure she grabbed everything from the room before we made a mad dash.”

Excela let out a relived sigh.

“Good to see that one of you is on top of things.”

Michele huffed at her friend before she simply threw her hands up in the air.

“So I wanted a drink! I think I earned it after we took care of that group of centaurs.”

“That’s not the point Michele, I don’t have a problem with you drinking, it’s when you drink so much that you cause problems like this that-”

Before Excela could continue though, the sound of Juliette clearing her throat cause the other two to look at her.

“I think we should discuss this when we aren’t surrounded by others.”

At the mention of the word ‘others’, the two women looked around to see that they had managed to get everyone’s attention. This caused Excela to stop talking and simply let out a low sigh, Michele also stopped her arguments and opted to look away. Juliette looked back out at everyone before her eyes locked with Andrews, a slightly curious look on her face. Andrew could see that she was eyeing him and simply opted to smile and wave, though she didn’t return the wave. However, the staring and the silence came to an end when the sounds of reigns being latched where heard, causing everyone to look at Kuroi.

“Well? If you’re all good to go, then I think we can go ahead and get under way.”

Excela quickly looked back to her party, the three women all talking in hushed whispers for a minute or two before she turned back around.

“Yes, we’re good!”

Kuroi nodded.

“Very good. Excela, your group will be taking the lead. Amanomiya-sama, could I have you and Sazanaka-dono take up either side of the cart?”

The young woman simply nodded before she stood back up. Kuroi looked pleased before she turned to Andrew and Labareda.

“I want you all taking up the rear.”

Andrew chuckled to himself before he spoke up.

“Sure, but what do you want us to do about the walking formation?”

The Danuki took a moment to process what he had said, when she did though, she could only grin slyly.

“Apologies, but I try not to sleep with any of my employees no matter how short the term is.”

“All I heard was try, I didn’t hear a ‘won’t’.”

Kuroi could only chuckle under her breath. Serena however, had to speak up at this point.

“Can you not do that here and now? In the presence of other people.”

Looking at Serena, Andrew could only smile sheepishly. Though looking around, he didn’t seem to earn the ire of anybody else. Something that was probably very common in this world. With the banter out of the way though, the group began making its way on the road, the trip to Dragonia only having just begun.

Meanwhile, in the city. Sergio let out a low sigh as he reclined back into the bench. He had been searching all throughout Gwent since yesterday all through the night to see what he could find out about that energy surge from a few days ago. However, many had simply proclaimed that it was a quick surge, and that it had felt ominous. Other then that, he could glen no more details from anyone. The only thing he had managed to get through all of his searching was that it had come from the direction of the Shadow labyrinth. This wasn’t anything new to him though, so he felt it had mostly been a rather large waste of time. Not only that, but his daughter had come back last night all gleeful and giddy. Her mood had lasted well into the day, the girl all giggling and girlish squealing. He had yet to say anything, but he had grown somewhat curious by his youngest daughters displays.

“Zizou… I’m not one to pry into the business of my children if given the choice… but I can’t help but wonder what’s got you all happy like this.”

Zizou, who had been humming to herself, stopped said sounds and looked to her father for a moment. She then broke into a rather large grin before she clenched her hands and pulled her arms close to her chest like an over eager girl.

“Cause papa, I think I’ve managed to find my ideal man!”

Sergio looked at his youngest child for a moment before slowly nodded his head, this not the first time his daughter had proclaimed as such.

“I see… so did you learn anything important while on your husband hunting.”

Zizou only pouted at her father, the man clearly not believing her.

“Its true! So far he has everything I’m looking for, but I have yet to see everything about him though, so I’m hoping that he’ll be in Makai by the time we make it back!”

Sergio could only keep staring at his daughter before he let out a low and weary sigh.

“Zizou… it would take many months for anybody to make it to Makai from here. Have you forgotten that I can warp us right back to the castle at a moments notice? You could be waiting a long long time.”

“I know that dad, but don’t you think the long wait is more romantic?”

Sergio could only sigh again before he opted to stop. Once his daughter was like this, he knew he wouldn’t have much chance to change her mind at the moment. Maybe later, but not now.

“Very well… but my question still stands. Did you learn anything new?”

Zizou, seeing that the earlier conversation had come to a close, she thought about it for a moment before she simply shrugged her shoulders.

“Sorry daddy. I couldn’t find anything else out about the miasma.”

Sergio simply turned to the sky, resisting the urge to let out another sigh. His wife often told him that sighs let out happiness after all. However, he wasn’t looking forward to going back and letting the Overlord know he wasn’t able to uncover anything. However, seeing the look on her father’s face caused Zizou to try to think of anything other then Andrew in her mind at that moment. And oddly enough, she did recall one thing she had heard by the harbor yesterday.

“Ah, but I did hear something about a sea crew having slain a Dragon Turtle. Apparently, it was in such good shape that it could be sold for a very good price. However, when I checked it out, the creature seemed to be saturated in the same energy that we’ve been asking about.”

Sergio quickly brought his attention back to his daughter.

“Really? What was the name of the ship?”

“Um… I dunno… I didn’t really get a name… I’m sure we could find them if we went to the dock though. Apparently, the Dragon turtle hasn’t been sold off yet.”

Sergio looked to his daughter with a proud look on his face before he reached over and ruffled his child’s hair.

“Good girl Zizou. It might not lead anywhere, but it’s more then we had a few moments ago.”

The young lilim giggled to herself at her father’s headpat. Sergio continued to pet his child even as his mind turned to the new lead he had, ideas already starting to form in his mind about this particular scenario.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“Lemme see… I spy with my little eye… something made of water.”

Andrew twirled his finger once in the air as he smiled smugly at Serena.

The swordwoman looked at him with a slightly surprised expression on her face.

“Wait, what? Made of water? What the heck is made of water? Water is water.”

Despite the protest though, Andrew could only continue to smile at her.

“Think about it for a bit and I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Serena could only look at him for a moment before she opted to try to identify this thing made of water, a slightly annoyed expression on her face as she did. This left Andrew to turn his attention back to the long march they were on and to the great range of the outdoors around him. Though the flat plains and the cloudy blue sky could only hold his attention for so long seeing as he had gazed on it for more then four hours already. In that time, nothing much had come to happen, the development of nothing happening actually being slightly surprising for Andrew. Though he probably was thinking a little too much in regards to game logic and the like. He rather liked the lack of something happening on a dangerous front, though he could tell his little game with the rest of his party had started to catch the attention of some of the other members of the caravan. Unlike his party, the demon slayers had opted to stay silent and vigilant, though Sazanaka had been prone to turning back and looking at his group. Koyoi only opted to give an occasional glance back towards his group, but no more then for a second to see if everything was alright before she would resume her vigil. However, the group of three up front seemed to have its own concerns and were too busy talking amongst each other to pay much attention to the group in the back, though Andrew did notice the brown haired one would look back at them to check and see if everyone was still doing alright.

Outside of that though, they hadn’t interacted with anyone outside of their group. Andrew was alright with that seeing as the current job was to keep an eye out for any danger or would-be problems.

“What the crap is made out of water? All I see is grass, sky, and the occasional tree.”

The sound of one frustrated Serena brought his attention back to his current group, Andrew smiling as he looked to the red headed twin tail.

“Giving up already? I had you pegged for lasting longer.”

“Well I would keep trying, but I can’t play a game where you just make up things and notions now can I.”

Still grinning, Andrew was about to speak up when Labareda beat him to the punch.

“Slimes. The answer is a slime. I’m amazed you were able to see one though, they normally stay in wet crevices in the ground or some such.”

Andrew looked to his familiar with some interest, not having known that. However, he could only grin smugly at Lab.

“An interesting idea. And one I’ll have to keep in mind for future games. But wrong.”

Not being called out for being wrong often in her life, Lab genuinely looked surprised when Andrew said that.

“What?”

Unoma, who had only listened this whole time, let out a low sigh a moment later.

“Clouds you two. He’s talking about clouds. Those are made of water.”

Andrew let out a low defeated sigh while Labareda could only ‘ah’ in recognition. However, Serena looked somewhat flabbergasted.

“Clouds are made of water? How? Water is… well, water.”

Not sure how advanced the Ylisse education system was back in Serena’s home, Andrew could only smile at the red head.

“That’s a long, complicated explanation that would require me to delve into concepts you probably couldn’t even wrap your head around right now.”

Serena looked to Andrew with an expression clear set on annoyed.

“Are you calling me stupid.”

However, Unoma lowered herself to the ground and embraced Serena around the neck, catching the young woman off guard.

“Not stupid. Simply unlearned. Not everyone has a need for that kind of information after all. Plus, the study of cloud elementals is a rather simple one to begin with and not one really required for everyday living.”

Serena, despite having been embraced from behind, had paid attention to the woman. After that explanation though, she could only nod her head while muttering ‘alright then…’.

Andrew however, was more surprised about what Unoma had said. Compared to what he knew, Unoma saying something about elementals had thrown him for a loop, thus causing him to mentally retract what he had said to Serena earlier. Though the truth of it still stood, he couldn’t necessarily call her out on it since he himself was now also unaware of the clouds. Letting a smile come across his face again, Andrew spoke up again.

“Alright, given that the last one was kinda unfair, let’s go with an easier target shall we? I spy with my little eye… something that is red.”

Granted that in of itself was hardly a challenge, but he wanted to be nice. This little game didn’t continue on for much longer however as eventually Andrew had begun to run out of things that he could spy. He tried to get others of his party to play, but Labareda wasn’t interested and Unoma didn’t care to try. Serena tried to give it a go, but she was very limited in the creativity department, and anything she tried to list off had already been pointed out by Andrew. This eventually left the group to fall into silence a bit later. Not something they were unfamiliar with to be sure, but still somewhat boring. It didn’t last very long though as Andrew felt he had to check on the youngest of the party.

“I think I’ll go and check up in Aruma. I’ll be right back.”

Nobody stopping him, Andrew trotted his way up to the cart unimpeded while he quickly passed the shrine maiden to talk with Kuroi. He quickly told her what he was going to do by checking on Aruma, though she didn’t look happy that he would be in her cart without supervision. However, it was more of a control thing, and she told him to go ahead, though she warned that she would be counting her stock when they stopped later. A thinly veiled threat of ‘you better not steal anything.’

Andrew only nodded before he hopped up on the seat next to Kuroi and made his way into the cart to check on Aruma. Thankfully the girl was still fast asleep and didn’t seem to be waking up anytime soon, so he made his way back out the way he came. After receiving a look from the black haired Danuki, Andrew hopped off the cart and was about to make his way back to his group. However, just as he was about to, the sound of a semi-Familiar voice stopped him.

“Hold a moment if you would.”

Turning to look, Andrew saw that Sazanaka had called out to him, the woman waving him over to her. Curious, Andrew decided to accept her invitation and walked over to her before he got into a steady rhythm again.

“Hello there… Sazanaka-san was it? How can I help you?”

Andrew found his attention drawn to her hand as it went up to the side of her head, the delicate fingers moving aside a lock of her silver hair. Now that he got a good look at her, he had to admit that he liked the more traditional style she had going on with her, while at the same time, still keeping it somewhat more modern looking with the way she left some of her hair to frame her face. The bun at the back with a ponytail coming out of it was interesting to see with a tsubaki flower in it. Though he found it odd that all she seemed to be wearing was a black and gold kimono. He wasn’t going to question it though, as he didn’t have the option to when she started to speak.

“I am fine, and please, you do not need to try to emulate the customs of Zipangu. Myself and Lady Amanomiya are well aware of the fact that many from the west are not versed in our culture. Not to say I do not find it refreshing to see.”

Her smile was warm when she said that, and Andrew couldn’t help but smile back at her.

“As you wish then.”

“Of course, though that is not why I have called you over.”

Andrew would have figured as much without her saying, but he simply nodded in answer, which she took as a prompt to continue.

“The reason I wanted your attention was because I wished to ask you a few things. The first being that of the little one in the carriage. I saw her earlier when I put my supplies in Kuroi’s cart. She then informed me that the girl was with your group and that she was ill. Do you happen to know what ails her?”

“Mana deprivation. She has a large amount of mana, but she can’t recover it quickly. One of the issues though is that it’s a special kind of mana, so she can only really recharge at certain holy places.”

Sazanaka nodded her head in an understanding manner.

“She is a holy child then… I understand. I take it that is why you wish to head to Dragonia?”

“Pretty much. Mount Corona was the place we decided on after some deliberation. Though I’m curious, what brings yourself and your friend to Dragonia?”

Sazanaka looked over at the cart, no doubt obviously drawing her gaze to her companion on the other side.

“Myself and Lady Koyoi are bound for Dragonia on account of the recent mishaps we have heard about. Many monsters have started to pop up there recently and we figure it would be a good place for us to ply our monster hunting trade.”

“Makes sense.” Andrew said as he looked to where Sazanaka had directed her gaze. However, he failed to notice the look of curiosity on her face when she looked back at him, though she caught his attention by posing him a question.

“Anyway, that was just one of my questions. Though… I do ask you forgive me if my next question might offend you.”

Andrew curiously looked at the silver haired easterner, not sure what she might say that he would even remotely find offensive.

“Are you perhaps one of the Montre Noire? Lady Kuroi told us as such when we arrived, though milady and I had mistaken you for a monster the first time we saw you.”

Andrew nodded at her.

“Ex member actually. Though that’s all I’m capable of telling you about it. I’m under an oath after all.”

If she was annoyed by that answer, she didn’t indicate as such.

“I see… I understand then. If you can not answer anymore about that, would you mind terribly if I asked about your companions? I have not had many chances to lay my eyes on a Baphomet outside of the great shrine in my hometown. She was the shrine maiden there and held great power as a Miko.”

“Sure, I don’t mind talking about them for a moment, though if you really want to get to know them, then it might be easier if you talked to them in person.”

Sazanaka only smiled at him.

“True, but it wouldn’t hurt to hear what I could before hand, would it not?”

Andrew couldn’t fault her logic on that statement, and for the next little bit, he and Sazanaka talked about a good deal starting off with there own companions. After that though and it devolved into small talk about random things. Andrew couldn’t provide a lot of conversation on certain topics, but he did enjoy his chat with the silver haired easterner. Eventually though, Andrew had to bring the conversation to a close as he was sure that his own companions weren’t willing to wait around forever for him. Sazanaka only smiled at him and bid him farewell until they could converse again. After that, Andrew made his way back with his group, Serena looking slightly peeved at him having taken so long while Unoma and Labareda only looked smug about something.

Andrew opted to apologize to the group for taking so long, though His two familiars didn’t seem to mind it at all while Serena only let out a huff of slight annoyance.

“Well, even if you opted to take a while, how was Aruma?”

“She’s doing about the same as she was earlier, though one of us should probably keep an ear out for when she wakes up.”

Unoma nodded.

“Agreed. I’ll volunteer to do as such. Leaving the rest of you with the guard duty… or in Dear Masters case, ready to get into another woman’s pants… or kimono based on current observations.”

Unoma had her smug grin on her face, leaving Andrew to only look at her in an annoyed manner.

“Ya know, my only goal isn’t to get into the pants of every woman I meet. We’d still be back in town if that was the case. And, I never ended up trying to have sex with Sarya or Morgana now did I.”

Labareda tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment before she responded.

“True enough I suppose. However, we are a little pressed for time after all. Maybe once we get Aruma in better shape that goal will change.”

Andrew looked at her for a moment before he merely shrugged his shoulders, though he couldn’t hide the small smirk on his face from the thought. The conversation came to an end and the group went back to watching out for danger. Thankfully, much of the rest of the day had been very uneventful with about the most dangerous thing being a stray slime that had worked it’s way onto the road. Thankfully that had worked itself out when the slime ran away, though Andrew had to admit that it had been a little exciting to see a real slime for the first time if only for the brief few seconds he was able to put his eyes on it. It wasn’t until Kuroi had called everyone to a halt and to get ready for camp that the long march finally came to an end. Thankfully, Andrew had done enough real marching in the previous world to be quite fine after the last few hours, and he was happy to say that Serena was also doing quite well for herself. Unoma hadn’t even bothered to walk and Andrew was sure Labareda didn’t have a limit on her stamina, so all in all, it was a good first day of travel. Though they had decided to stop marching for the day, they still had the task of finding a good spot to camp for the night while also getting a fire set up and tents put down.

Thankfully, Juliette had found a good spot large enough for everyone along with the cart and the massive boar that went with it, so there was plenty of space for everyone to get comfy. Andrew had found himself tasked with going out into the fields to find some logs or large objects to burn for a fire, leaving Serena and Unoma to get there tent set up while Lab said she would do what she could for the fire. However, Lab wasn’t very keen on him going out into the field to find burning material by himself, and made her point known.

“I know you’ve been doing well enough for yourself as of late Master, but I still don’t trust you to go out on your own without causing some kind of trouble for yourself.”

“Oh come on now Lab. It’s just going out to find some wood or something similar. There isn’t any reason for you to worry about me. Plus, we need to get this fire started so we can get food cooking. I don’t want Aruma to wake up and not have a good dinner ready for her when she does after all.”

Labareda only looked on at him for a moment, running any number of scenarios through her head at what could potentially happen. However, she quickly realized that, this was a large open area with very sparse amounts of places to hide save for the tall grass. Plus, she didn’t detect anything too powerful nearby that her master couldn’t handle with his raw strength alone. Letting a small sigh escape her lips, Labareda simply waved her paw at him.

“Very well. You are my master after all, I couldn’t stop you even if I wanted to. Just be careful as always.”

“I will, trust me when I say that I’m the epitome of safety.”

Lab only looked at him with a blank stare, the Red head not pointing out the problems he had gotten into when by himself. Leaving it at that, Andrew turned around and began making his way toward what looked to be the closest cluster of trees. Before he could even walk out of the camp perimeter though, the sound of a none to familiar voice rang out behind him.

“Oi, big fella.”

Seeing as he was the only person in the group that could be subjugated to being called a ‘fella’ Andrew turned at the call to see that the blonde woman named Michele had walked over to him. Curious, Andrew answered her.

“Yes? Can I help you?”

“I’m sure you could, but I’m actually curious about something. Are you about to go and look for firewood?”

“That would be correct.”

The girl smiled broadly at him.

“Awesome! Mind if I tag along with you? Excela is nagging me to go and do something useful and I figured I would assist in that little venture! Plus, I’m kinda curious about you myself.”

Andrew simply nodded at her, not finding any immediate reason to deny her coming along.

“Sure, I don’t mind the extra company. My familiar would probably feel better knowing I had someone so powerful looking keeping an eye out. I also enjoy the thought of hanging out alone with someone so attractive.”

Michelle looked at him with a smile on her face.

“Ha, I like you already. But let’s save any flirting for later. For now we should get to finding things to burn for dinner.”

Andrew nodded his head in agreement before he and Michelle made their way out into the field. The both of them made quick work of the walk, only taking a few minutes to make it to their destination. When they made it to the first sprig, Michelle was the first one to speak up as she looked around on the ground.

“I don’t expect we’ll find any large logs or the like around here. Maybe some dried kindling and some decently sized branches, but not any good burning logs.”

Looking at the ground around them, Andrew found himself agreeing with the blonde haired drill-tail. He then turned his attention to the tree in front of him and gave it a once over. He then tuned his attention to Michelle before pointing to the tree.

“Hey, maybe we can cut this down and try to start a fire with it? Or something along those lines?”

Michelle looked at where he was pointing before she also gave her own personal evaluation, the heavily armored woman thinking about it for a moment before she simply nodded.

“We could try, but we would need to check and see if the tree wasn’t a young Dryad first. Made that mistake once and once was all I needed to learn to never do it again.”

“Experience is the best teacher as they say… so what should we do? I’ve not dealt with that kind of thing before myself, so I wouldn’t know how to check.”

Michelle put her hands on the metallic red skirt of hers with her chest puffed out in a smug confidence.

“Easy, leave it to me.”

Andrew watched the woman walk up to the tree and quickly pull out a small knife from somewhere. She then proceeded to cut into the bark of the tree. Deep enough that some sap began to leak out from the spot but not enough for it not to recover from.

Michelle looked at the spot for a moment or two, as if she was waiting for something to happen. But whatever it was she was waiting for, didn’t seem to happen, causing the blonde-haired drill tail to look back at Andrew.

“Looks like it isn’t a sentient tree of any kind, but let me make a few more checks for a few other things before we go cutting it down.”

Andrew only nodded at her before he let her get to work, the young man not certain what else she might need to check. However, she was the experienced one in this matter, not him. So he left it up to her judgment. This left him with a bit of time to kill, and Andrew opted to use it by examining Michelle herself. He opted to start with her face and looks, the first thing he noted being that if he was to guess her age, it would be in her late teens, early twenties at the latest. Her face was very well kept with no hints of make-up to be found. She was very pretty with a bright set of red eyes on her. Andrew had come to understand that he couldn’t apply the common eye colors from his previous world here in this one seeing as most people had some outlandish colors to them. It actually made him feel rather muted with his own appearance, but he didn’t think too hard on it. He found her long and bright blonde hair to be even more amazing, but more out of the sense of her being able to get them into a pair of ridiculous spiral twin tails. He found it charming though, and rather exotic. Interestingly enough, she had a pair of bright orange flowers in the intersection of her twin tails and hair, making him think they where what was keeping them in their current state.

Moving his eyes down, Andrew looked at the rest of the woman’s body, her upper chest and lower body covered by a heavy but brightly covered armor. Though Andrew couldn’t help but notice that the upper part had a large outward bust for her breasts. The lower part of her body wasn’t covered by the traditional greaves, but by a metallic skirt of sorts which only went to her knees. Then some shin guards and metal boots. All of it a bright red color trimmed with gold. It certainly stood out, and Andrew could only guess at how expensive it actually was. Andrew recalled that Lab had said that Kuroi had hired both some monster hunters and a hero party, and since Koyoi and sazanaka had been labeled as the monster hunters, this meant the other group had to be the hero party. So she probably got a lot of money from her adventuring. However, despite the expensive look of her Armor, Andrew couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t seem to have weapons on her. He could only think that maybe she was a mage or had them hidden away, but he didn’t get the chance to ask right away seeing as she turned around and caught his attention.

“Welp, as far as I can tell, nothing magical, sentient or otherwise about this tree. So we can go ahead and cut it down for some wood. You wanna cut it down for me while I check out some of the other trees around here?”

“Sure, I can do that for you.” Andrew said with a grin on his face.

“Great! You probably need an axe or something to cut it down with though. Let me give you one of mine.”

Andrew had been confused by that statement seeing as he had observed no weapon on her person previously, but a moment later, she held up her hand and a flash of fire erupted from a previously unseen jewel in her gauntlet, causing an axe made of what looked to be metal and sharp ruby to show up in her hand. Andrew had jumped momentarily from the fire, but the surprise melted away into awe at the thing in her hand and what she had done to summon it.

“That’s impressive. Do you have some kind of dimensional storage in those gauntlets of yours?”

Michelle shook her head.

“Nah, this is one of the Red Reaper twin’s abilities. They change into these gems when not in use, so I figured I could store them in my armor for easier access in case someone tried to get the drop on me.”

Andrew nodded while also noting the name of her weapon.

“Awesome, though truth be told, I don’t really need it.”

Andrew held out his arm, and without any kind of fanfare, his own weapon of choice magically appeared in his clasped hand. Michelle was somewhat surprised herself when she saw it, causing Andrew to slightly puff up with pride.

“I happen to have my own sharp implement. Plus, mines bigger.”

Michelle looked at the massive weapon in Andrews hand before she looked back at her own weapon before giving him a large grin.

“So it is! Not bad, not bad at all… though they say guys with big weapons be trying to compensate for having less than stellar bedroom equipment.”

Andrew felt a sucker punch when it was thrown at him, but he could only smile somewhat smugly at Michelle as he lowered his weapon.

“Maybe, maybe not. But the only way to know that is if your willing to check that out. Wanna take a peek?”

“Sure thing. Lets see it.”

Of all the answers he had been expecting, that one was maybe 5th on his list. Meaning he hadn’t been expecting it.

“Wait, really?”

Michelle only gave him a puzzled expression.

“Of course. Truth be told, I’ve been kinda interested in you since I saw you. You have like… 3-4 women tagging after you, two of which are mamono. You’ve obviously got skills or size going for ya with that many women around.”

Andrew felt those words run through his mind, and once again he was reminded of the world he was in and the values in regards to sex that it seemed to uphold. Letting it process for a moment longer, Andrew opted to go ahead and just show her.

“Alright, but don’t be too surprised when you see it.”

“That remains to be seen.”

Not wasting anymore time, Andrew undid the sash that kept his pants up and let them fall to the ground in a heap. He hadn’t opted to wear his boxers, seeing as he still needed to wash them, so the moment those pants came down, his second son was in full view of the world for all to see it. Andrew found himself looking down and seeing that Unoma must have increased the size again. He had Taken to measuring his dick every day at this point, having to use his own leg as a measuring tool for it seeing as he hadn’t found any kind of ruler for proper measurement. He was never sure when Unoma would busy herself with his body alteration, though if he was to be completely honest, he didn’t mind an increased size at all. Though he did wonder where she was going to stop or if she even had a limit to how big she wanted it.

Michelle for her part, let out a low and sultry hum as she eyed Andrews large cock, the girl bringing her attention up to his eyes when she got done admiring his family equipment.

“Well well… looks like you got a nice one after all. Not too big, not too small… just perfect for my taste.”

Andrew felt somewhat proud of the fact that this woman complimented him on his lower body, but he was more focusing on the fact that she said he was just right. Indicating that she had seen larger, and that got him thinking about penis size average. However, he put it out of his mind for the moment as he spoke up.

“Glad to hear…. But we should be getting back to getting the wood for the fire. We can flirt and fuck all we want later.”

Michelle took one last look below Andrews belt before he had pulled his pants back up, the woman letting a small look of annoyance come over her features for a moment before it fell away.

“Good point. Anyway, since you got that nice big thick axe of yours, why don’t you show me how you handle your wood?”

Andrew felt that Michelle’s phrasing was deliberate, but he only tied the sash around his waist to keep his pants from falling down.

“Alright then. Might want to stand a bit away from the tree. I’ve never actually tried to cut anything with this axe before, so this’ll be a first for me.”

Doing as was asked of her, the blonde walked away from the tree in question before she turned around and looked to Andrew, some anticipation on her face as she waited patiently. Andrew, bringing his full attention to the task at hand, looked at the tree in question for a solid few moments before he simply let out a low sigh and hefted the axe with one hand. Without so much as a stance, Andrew swung with his arm alone and was rewarded with a surprising result. The axe ripped right through the tree in question, though to him it only felt as if he was going through a bush of hay with a scythe. He did meet some resistance, but it wasn’t enough to cause issues for him in any way. The tree itself, caught up in the force of the blow, was sent falling to the side the swing came from. For a moment, Andrew didn’t do anything, his mind still going over at how easily he had just felled a tree in a single swing. Granted it wasn’t a thick tree and only was about ten or so feet tall, but he still felt a sense of accomplishment at being able to do what he did. That is until he heard Michelle start talking.

“That was pretty powerful, but that blow? Really sloppy. Even for something simple like cutting trees. No stance, no movement in the hips or legs. Just a shoulder swing. Granted, you have a lot of strength, so that’s something for you, but anybody as strong as an ogre could have done the same thing.”

Andrew turned to look at Michelle, the woman having put a hand to her chin as she was talking, the woman’s previous flirtatious manner now replaced with a look of speculation. Having felt his pride deflate, Andrew looked to her with some minor annoyance in his face.

“We wanted a tree down, and now it’s down. I don’t think the method to getting it that way really matters.”

“True, it probably shouldn’t, but as a warrior, I find it interesting that someone who has a Baphomet for a familiar would use such a brutish method. True, you don’t need to use any particular techniques to drop trees. But even in ones movement, there should be signs of experience, you look like you just picked the thing up yesterday.”

“Probably cause, outside of a few sparing matches with a friend of mine, I haven’t swung this thing all that much.”

Nobody said anything for a few moments, the silence being filled with the echo of a fallen tree and animals making noise. However, Michelle spoke up a bit later.

“I see… well, I guess while on this little adventure of ours, I’ll try to do what I can to show you how to swing an axe properly!”

Not expecting that answer, Andrew could only blink at her a few times in surprise.

“Train me?”

“Yeah! Why not, it’s not like we have much else to do while traveling.”

Andrew couldn’t fault the logic in her statement, and he had to admit that he wanted to try to learn how to actually fight seeing as it would become necessary down the line.

Shrugging his shoulders, Andrew simply agreed.

“True enough. We can do that after we get back though. Training can happen while we wait for dinner. But we need wood for a fire for that to happen.”

With that said, the both of them went about finding more trees and wood for the fire, Michelle doing what she could to help identify if a tree was good to cut while Andrew would do said cutting. And each time he did, Michelle would give him pointers on how to swing. By the time they had collected enough firewood, Andrew could say he was somewhat maybe getting the hang of what the drill-tail was trying to teach him. Having gotten what they needed, the both of them made there way back to camp, upon which they saw a fully established camping site for the night. Everyone had tents pitched, the giant boar was grazing on grass, and everyone looked as if they had just gotten done. Michelle, in what Andrew supposed was typical of her, called out to her group.

“Hey! We got the firewood!”

Everyone turned to look at the group that had come back, some amounts of relief on many faces. As soon as they made it to the center of camp, Michelle dropped her logs unceremoniously on the ground in a heap while Andrew put his down in a neat pile. However, Lab had come over and picked up one of the logs and began inspecting it. She furrowed her brow a moment later before she turned to Andrew.

“Master, did you just cut these down? They happen to be very moist on the inside. The amount of smoke that would come out of these would be no laughing matter. If there are any creatures or unsavory sorts nearby, they might be tempted to investigate.”

Andrew looked at the log in her paw before he responded with a small huff.

“True enough, I figured that would be the case, but having some firewood would be better then having none at all. Besides, I’m not really worried about something showing up. Especially with the group we have.”

Andrew indicated to Those around him as he spoke to Lab, the Baphomet simply nodding her head.

“True enough… actually, if you don’t mind Master, I’ll see if I can dry them out quickly for use. It might be a few minutes before then though.”

“Perfectly fine to me. The sun won’t be setting for a period of time anyway.”

With that having been said, Labareda nodded in agreement before she sat down next to the pile of logs and held her paws up over them. A moment later and Andrew saw heatwaves coming from her, and the vicinity close to Lab got unnaturally hot, forcing him to move away from her. Everyone could see that this would take a bit, so most everyone went to doing other mundane tasks, leaving Andrew to get a good look around the campsite. He could see Kuroi by her cart, a ledger in hand and the Danuki writing something in it, clearly absorbed in the task. Michelle had gone to her own group, the three of them discussing things relating to what to get ready for dinner. Sazanaka and Koyoi were seated on a log next to each other, the black haired miko writing on a new talisman while the silver haired woman was, much to Andrews surprise, using a whetstone on a rather large and ornate axe she had in hand. Turning his attention to his own group, Andrew could see that Unoma was already in the tent laying down on the boar skin rug, Aruma next to her as the girl clung to the older woman like a child would her parent. Andrew couldn’t see Serena however, though he quickly found her off a little way, the swords woman practicing her sword techniques. Having gotten a feel for where everyone was at, Andrew opted to bring his attention back to Lab. It had been a bit since he had had a one on one with his first familiar, so he opted to make his way back to her. Though the heat she was emitting was rather unbearable. Not feeling shy about it, Andrew removed his shirt to allow his skin to breath a bit against the heat. Labareda, being able to keenly identify the removal of clothing, turned her attention to see her master getting as close as he could before stopping. She could only smile at him with a coy grin on her face.

“Oh? Coming over to entice me Master? If that is your aim, I dare say it’s working quite well.”

“Merely an added benefit of trying to stay cool from your heat. Honestly, if I wasn’t afraid of being burned alive, I might have come over and fondled you a little bit. It’s been much to long since I last did.”

Lab, the coyness coming out of her expression, was left with a smile on her face.

“Feel free. Truth be told, on account of our contract, I couldn’t burn you unless you expressly ordered me to.”

“Really?”

Without any kind of hesitation, Andrew walked over, and out of sheer curiosity, reached out and grabbed his familiar by the shoulder. He was legitimately surprised to feel that her skin felt warm to the touch, but not unbearably hot like the air around her. Actually, even that had diminished when he had come into contact with her, the heat feeling more like a warm blanket then anything.

“Huh… fascinating.”

Lab smugly hummed to herself.

“Also, since your touching me, I could generate my heat to burn the entire area around us, and all you would feel is a comfortable heat on your flesh. With us in contact, you could even walk through an inferno without so much as a tan.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for if we ever have to walk through a burning forest. In the meantime though…”

Without so much as a word, Andrew sat down behind Labareda and picked her up, placing the familiar on his lap. The demon was curious about what he was doing, but didn’t say anything when she felt her tiny rear find a place on Andrews thighs. Andrew then wrapped his arms around Lab, where he then put his chin on top of her head and between her horns. Labareda could only smile at this, though she still continued her task of drying the logs.

“Getting comfy are we?” 

“If I wanted to get really comfy, I wouldn’t be sitting and rather using you as a full body pillow.”

Labareda found herself with a smug grin on her face as she leaned back into her master’s chest.

“Would that also happen to involve you doing things to me while we lay together?”

“That would be very high on my list of things I would be doing, yes.”

Labareda only chuckled, Andrew doing the same as he embraced her tighter. For a few minutes, the both of them simply sat there like that, there eyes on the logs as a thick steam rose from them, the sounds of hissing and popping wood indicating the rapid escape of moisture. It didn’t take long for one of them to speak though, Andrew shifting a little to make himself a little more comfortable… and maybe to push her closer to his body.

“So… Labareda… it’s been… what? About a month? Maybe more? Yeah, about that long since we both met each other…”

“You wouldn’t be wrong on that account Master.”

Andrew nodded in agreement, Labareda getting an impromptu headpat out of Andrews chin rubbing.

“Mm-hm… and in all this time, I’ve not once asked a thing about you nor tried to… this in turn brings me to think that, despite your devotion… I really don’t know much of anything about you… all I know is that you’re a very powerful demonic entity of some sort… one that seems to specialize in fire and heat if I’ve been observing properly. You’re very old, but that doesn’t tell me much of anything…and that you seem to have been the familiar and lover of Unoma many years back.”

“Really? That’s all you know of me?”

Andrew chuckled a little under his breath.

“Those are just the facts presented to me so far. But I do know you have terrible table manners when you eat. You seem very prideful to those you don’t recognize, you’re a coy and sly familiar, but you can be soft and spoiled when it comes to me, though I don’t know if you act that way with all your contractors or if that’s just something exclusive to our current bond. You also seem to be… no, never mind that last part.”

Labareda lifted her chin to look up at Andrew, a curious look on her face as she did.

“Oh come now, you can’t just be about to say something and then back out. It makes me curious.”

Andrew looked down at her, for a moment a rather neutral expression on his face. He then turned to look at the steaming pile of logs before he spoke.

“Well… if you want me to continue… I feel like you have a secret you seem to want to say but don’t on account of something… I don’t know if that’s true though or me just seeing something that isn’t there.”

Lab continued to look up at Andrew, a blank expression of her own on her face. However, it gave way to a small smile, the familiar leaning up and kissing Andrew on the chin, causing him to look down curiously only to get a second kiss on his lips.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t… surely someone like you must have realized that a being as old as I am has to have a secret or two hidden behind her charms. However… I don’t feel up to discussing them unless it necessary… but if you so commanded… I would divulge them.”

Andrew simply looked down at her for a moment longer before he gave her a kiss of his own.

“No. If you don’t think it’s worth sharing right now, then I won’t bother trying to pry it out of you. Though if you ever felt the need to share it, I would be more then willing to listen to you.”

Lab simply smiled as she cuddled closer into Andrews chest, the demonic familiar getting comfy as she did.

“When the situation does call for it, I’ll be sure to let you know Master… until then, thank you for being respectful of my wishes.”

“Not a problem… by the by… those logs stopped steaming a second ago. I think they’re done.”

Lab focused on what Andrew said and could see that he was right.

“So they are. I do believe we can get a fire going now.”

Andrew nodded once before he bent his head down and kissed Lab on the top of the head.

“True enough. Pity though, I was getting comfy sitting with you.”

Leaving it at that, the both of them simply got up and got the logs ready for the fire pit. Thankfully making a fire and getting dinner ready was a very simple task. Everyone ate in there own groups, and after that, they had to get the sleeping arrangement set up seeing as they needed to keep a night watch. Thankfully with so many people, it was easy for them to come up with one, Andrew claimed the first shift saying that all he had done was walk today and had plenty of energy to spare. However, Serena had opted to stay up with him as she didn’t want him to be the only set of eyes keeping everyone safe. After everyone agreed to that, most of the groups went off and did there own things for a period of time, though it wasn’t long before everyone began getting set for the night when the sun had finally dipped out of sight. After making sure Aruma was taken care of for the night, Andrew left her with Lab and Unoma in the tent for them to get some rest. Andrew then made his way to the fire, where he then sat down across from Serena, who was busy inspecting and maintaining her Cursed sword.

“Not sure what all you can do to maintain a magic sword.”

Andrew said with a hint of amusement. As far as he was aware, any kind of magic sword wouldn’t need the usual maintenance that a normal one would. However, Serena only looked at him for a moment before she went back to inspecting.

“Doesn’t matter if it doesn’t need it or not, any good swordsman should take care of their blade. Plus, it just feels natural to me.”

Andrew nodded his head as he leaned back a bit to look around, though he didn’t see anything worth mentioning. A moment or two went by after that, and Andrew felt that he had to pose a question.

“Might have something to do with your experiences. That reminds me, have you managed to recover anymore of your memories?”

Serena shook her head as she flipped the blade over to inspect the other side.

“Sadly not… I haven’t seen or heard anything that might trigger anymore memories.”

Andrew looked at her for a moment before he brought his hand up to his chin and scratched.

“Might be that you haven’t found the right triggers yet. I can try to recount some other things for you if you want me to. Maybe doing so will help?”

“Maybe, maybe not. You can try, but I think we should put my memories on hold for a short period. At least until we get Aruma taken care of. I wanna stay focused on taking care of her first.”

“Makes sense.” Was all Andrew said after that. For the next little while, nothing was said between the two of them, Andrew simply thinking on other things while Serena finished up her sword maintenance. When she got done with that, she sheathed her blade and turned her attention to Andrew for a moment, the man looking at the fire deep in thought. Curious, she opted to speak up.

“So, thinking about anything in particular?”

Turning his head to look at her, Andrew thought about it for a moment before he spoke up.

“A few things. This and that mostly. Nothing very defined right now, but mostly things like ‘what our next goal when we get done with this’, and ‘what’s most important to think and do right now.’ Stuff like that really.”

Serena nodded in understanding, impressed at how far ahead Andrew was trying to think.

“I see… makes sense.”

Andrew nodded in turn before he leaned over and put his chin on his hand.

“Outside of those things though, the thing I’ve been thinking about for the past few minutes is that you seem to be in a better mood since yesterday. You’ve been kinda down since I told you about what was happening. Though you seemed to bounce back really quickly. Did anything happen that might have helped with that?”

At the mention of that Serena’s thoughts immediately went to Unoma and Labareda, while Sergio popped into her mind a moment later. Her face went red at the memory and she turned away.

“Um… well.. a few things… mostly Labareda and Unoma telling me about how they knew about what had been happening to me and that they were sorry about not telling me about it before. And… well… maybe one… another thing.”

Curious on account of her saying that last bit and leaving it vague on top of how she was suddenly acting, Andrew tried to pry a little more.

“One other thing?”

Serena was still red in the face at the memory of Sergio, the mans hands in her body leaving her embarrassed and somewhat ashamed of herself. On the other hand, she felt that she didn’t want to try to hide anything from Andrew, especially since he seemed to trust her.

“Um… well… it Ah… might involve… another man…”

She then went on to explain about how she had partially left that day so she could help out, but also so she could see if she was really herself. She then told Andrew about her encounter with the long dark haired man and how she had attempted to woo him and how willing he had been to go along with her. While she explained all of this, she felt highly nervous at the fact that Andrews face didn’t seem to change. She knew that she wasn’t in a relationship with Andrew or anything, but she still felt highly guilty and somewhat ashamed when she explained that she had let Sergio touch her. Though she was very pointed in saying that they had never actually had sex. After she told Andrew about what Sergio had said to her, she finally finished up and looked on at Andrew. He didn’t say anything for a moment, but his expression was one of thought. It fell away to a smile a moment later.

“I’m glad to see you were able to get your feelings sorted out. Pity we left, I would have loved to have met this guy. He sounds like a good person, kinda like Jonathan.”

Seeing the smile on Andrews face, Serena felt somewhat confused about Andrews choice of expression.

“Um… is that it?”

Looking at her, Andrew cocked his eyebrow up curiously.

“Is what it?”

“That’s how you react? I… well, I did just admit to almost having sex with another man. Are you… angry with me?”

Serena was confused that Andrew looked confused.

“Why would I be?”

“Well… we are traveling in a group after all… and… I kinda figured… you know.”

Andrew still looked confused.

“You know? Not really. Who you have sex with isn’t really my concern. Sure we travel in a group, but it’s not like we set limits or anything. You sleep with who you want to sleep with.”

“But… wait… are you not… wouldn’t you be upset about this?”

Andrew, simply looking on at her with a continued expression of confusion, Simply shook his head.

“No, I wouldn’t have a reason to be. The only real reason I would get angry is if he was a piece of shit and treated you like shit. And from the way you explained things, he seemed like a really nice guy. The only other reason I would get angry is if we where lovers or something, and we aren’t.”

He had said it in a matter of fact statement, not in any way derogatory or negative. But Serena still felt a sharp and uncomfortable feeling in her chest when he said that. She should have figured as such, but she still felt kinda pained at how he had been treating the situation. However, Andrew was internally feeling somewhat conflicted. He stood by what he had said to Serena, but he still felt maybe a dash irritated by the fact. However, Andrew was happy that Serena had managed to come to understand herself better. With that said, neither one of them said anything for a few minutes, Serena grabbing at one of the dried logs and throwing it in to keep the flames going. Andrew found himself thinking about his magic and opted to do some image training again in regards to his magic while Serena simply found her mind wandering to other things. Though it always came back to what he had just said about there relationship. It made her feel rather uncomfortable, but at the same time, she knew she hadn’t been making any kind of signs of like toward him. Though she had to admit that she had really only just discovered her like of him, and that made it a little hard for her to act out on it. Especially since she didn’t have any memories to fall back on in regards to romance. Deciding that it had been quiet for much too long, Serena spoke up.

“So… Andrew. I have a question.”

Finding himself being brought out of his training, though he hadn’t really started, Andrew looked to the red head curiously.

“About what?”

“About the general progress. We seem to get out of Gwent rather quickly didn’t we? You didn’t seem to be in a very large hurry when we where on the boat, but the moment we hit shore you were looking to get out of here as fast as we could. Was that just good timing or are we in a hurry? I know that Aruma can’t stay the way she is, but I figured we could have spent maybe a few more days in Gwent getting ourselves in order.”

Andrew looked at her before he nodded.

“Very true… I guess it does seem like we’re rushing. However, there is a reason for it. That’s because we have, at most, a week before Jonathan reports to his superiors about what happened in the shadow labyrinth. The fact we could leave so early is actually a blessing for us.”

Serena looked to Andrew in some surprise.

“Report?”

Seeing that she was confused, Andrew opted to tell Serena about what Jonathan had told him. About how he was going to report what had happened and that he didn’t have any intentions of lying to his superiors about it. After he got done explaining everything, Andrew let out a low sigh as he leaned back to look at the sky.

“So yeah. I know it seemed like we rushed, but I figured it would be better to get a head start on everything before we started to be hunted… or me in this case. I’m sure you guys would be fine for the most part.”

Serena nodded at him in some understanding, but her expression was troubled.

“Yeah, we probably will be ahead for a short period of time… but at the same time these guys are probably gonna try to hunt you down with everything they’ve got.”

Andrew let out another low sigh.

“Very true, and the fact that I can’t seem to get my energy under control doesn’t help matters much either. That’s why I need to try to learn to suppress myself within the next few days. Cause honestly, the excuse we’ve been using won’t hold against someone who knows why they’re looking for.”

“True enough… pity I don’t know anything about magic… I’d help you otherwise.”

Andrew smiled at her words as he leaned back, his ability to channel his inner energy no better than the last time he tried it.

“Appreciated, but you’re not one for magic as far as I know. Leave that to Unoma and Labareda. However, when we get the chance, maybe you can assist me with combat practice?”

For a moment, Serena looked at Andrew with some confusion on her face. A confusion that quickly gave way to worry.

“Uh, you recall last time we tried that? You almost cut me in half. I’m hardly able to keep up with you.”

“That was then Serena. Remember your also undergoing some changes as well. You’ll probably be even stronger in the near future. Even more then you are now. Thinking about it, you’ve probably already changed somewhat. Wanna see if that’s the case?”

Serena looked to Andrew for a moment before she looked down at her hands, the idea an interesting one. She didn’t think much longer on it before she agreed.

“Sure… why not. So long as we be careful.”

Andrew nodded at her before he stood up.

“Sure thing. Let’s go a little this way so as not to cause issues for everyone else.”

Agreeing with him, Serena stood up and walked behind the male. The got a small distance out, still in the light of the fire, but far enough away that they wouldn’t cause major issues for anybody sleeping. The both of them got a small distance away from each other before they turned to face one another. Serena nodded her head at him to indicate that he had her attention before Andrew spoke up.

“Alright then… since this is mostly a test to see how much stronger you’ve gotten in terms of your body; we won’t do any kind of weapon practice. We’ll just throw punches at each other… though since we aren’t sure where you stand, I won’t be throwing any punches at full strength. Though I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how well I can regulate my strength.”

Serena rolled her neck a few times as she stretched out her arms.

“That’s fine. As long as you don’t swing at me with the intent to kill, I should be good. Since you’re not good with pain, I’ll try not to beat your ass too hard.”

A small but smug smile gracing her lips, Serena was a little content to see Andrew look a small bit annoyed.

“Ha ha. I lived in a peaceful world, getting hurt was a pretty rare thing… but enough about that, you ready?”

“Sure enough.”

Andrew nodded before he rolled his shoulders.

“Alright. When I say go, we start. Got it?”

Serena only nodded her head.

“Alright then… ready… and… go!”

Quick as a bolt, Serena dashed forward with practiced ease, the woman’s fight system already kicking in for a brawl. Andrew, expecting that she would be the first to move, was very surprised when she did though. The last time they had squared off, she wasn’t near as fast as she was right now. He wasn’t sure if it was because she wasn’t using a sword or what, but he had some trouble reacting to her, and was punched right in the solar plexus. He felt his lungs stop working for a moment, and just about doubled over in pain, but he realized he had a chance and took a swing at her. Problem was, he threw that fist with too much force and only realized it much to late. However, Serena was able to somewhat react to the blow, but it was still fast enough for her not to dodge it completely, and thus was greeted with Andrews fist directly into her shoulder. It threw her off and actually sent her tumbling to the ground. It hurt, a lot in fact, but it wasn’t so bad that it broke anything. She quickly jumped back to her feet ready to take another swing at Andrew, but he was doubled over, trying to not vomit everything he had just eaten not but an hour ago.

Seeing him in this state, Serena dropped out of a combat stance and stood straight, the red head rolling her throbbing shoulder.

“Sorry about that… kinda just went with what felt natural. However, you did get a good hit in. Was that at full strength? It hurt like hell. But I guess I should wait for you to recover before peppering you with more questions.”

Though Andrew didn’t say anything, he was grateful for Serena’s understanding and patience. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for him to recover, and before he knew it, they where back at it again. This time, Andrew being much more wary of hits like those before. Thankfully, with a more raised awareness, Andrew was able to put up more of a fight, though the fact he was trying to control his strength was limiting him as well. Thankfully, they had agreed after about 20 or so minutes of combat that they should call it a night as Serena wanted to be fresh and ready to act in the event of anything happening. But not before she wanted to get one more sparring session in, something about how she had an uneven number of wins and that it annoyed her. Thankfully, the original intent behind the training had been able to show them that Serena had in fact been getting stronger, the girl keeping pace with Andrews speed and power, though it had been limited somewhat. Andrew let out a low sigh as he got himself ready, taking a stance he thought felt right to him as an unarmed individual.

Serena was also ready, and with an unspoken signal, the two of them started. Just as all the previous times, Serena dived right in, the woman taking advantage of Andrews passiveness. However, Andrew had come to expect that at this point and was more then willing to meet first punch. Thankfully she had started out with a right hook, something she had been doing the whole time, and lunged forward to evade the blow. Serena hadn’t been expecting that, but was quick to change her strategy by sidestepping and backing off to get a little distance. Andrew was still unrefined, and even of she was doing better at keeping up, Serena was still slower and weaker than the male. Andrew tried going in after her, but was surprised when she made a snap decision to bring her leg up and down like an axe kick. What she was not expecting though was for Andrew to react immediately, the man diving in the moment her leg came up and tackling her to the ground. For a moment, Serena was slightly confused about what had just happened, but the weight on her body told her more then enough about what had happened. A moment later and Andrew pushed himself up to look down at the woman under him.

“That looks like my win.”

Serena couldn’t help but feel slightly annoyed about his smirk, but that quickly became secondary when she noticed how close he had gotten to her and that he was pretty much right on top of her. The proximity he was to her right now left her feeling embarrassed somewhat, and the blush that ignited on her face pretty much gave away what she was thinking at that moment. Andrew noticed the blush and for a moment, was unsure of why. Though it quickly hit him when he thought about how they where currently.

“What’s the matter Serena? Feeling hot and bothered?”

“J-just shut up and get off me you moron…”

Despite the words used, her tone was rather meek, causing Andrew to smirk more widely. Instead, he leaned down closer to her instead, the girl getting more flustered.

“I don’t think I will. In this position, your kinda at my mercy. Now that I’m here and have you like this, what should I do I wonder…”

Serena tried to get up, but a moment later and she felt Andrew press himself down on her. Granted she was strong, but Andrew had her pinned in a way that made it hard for her to get any leverage in his larger frame. Feeling even more embarrassed about what was going on, Serena started to struggle a little more.

“Come on, get off me, what are you doing here?”

“Cuddle time.”

The next moment, she felt Andrew wrap his arms around her and roll over to the side, the girl wrapped up in his arms and thus having no control of what was happening. She felt the warmth of his body on hers, but she wasn’t sure of what to do in this scenario, and it got even weirder when Andrew buried his face in her hair and nuzzle there.

“Wha- what are you doing?!”

However, Andrew didn’t say anything, simply keeping Serena close. He wasn’t crushing her, but he wasn’t letting go, and it really was just confusing the girl, though she was willing to admit that she was enjoying the physical contact. This was all that they did for the next few minutes, though it came to an end when Andrew spoke up and loosened his grip.

“I’ll be honest actually. I may have fibbed a little earlier when I said I wasn’t annoyed.”

“Huh?” Was all the red head said. She pulled away for a moment only to see that Andrew had a small blush of his own on his face.

“About What you had talked about earlier. I may have felt annoyed at it. Don’t confuse that for some ego on my part though. I’m happy you came to understand your feelings a little more and that you got a good handle on what your going through… but at the same time, I feel maybe kinda annoyed at the fact that you didn’t perhaps come to me to help you out. But at the same time, I have a slightly sneaking suspicion that I’m part of the reason in the first place. If I’m wrong, please correct me since I don’t want to sound like some egotistical asshole.”

It took the red head a moment to process what he had said, but she came to a quick understanding when she played his words over in her mind. Now she was even more red, and she pushed on his chest in some small desperation to get away from him and what she was afraid he had figured out.

“I…I have no idea what your talking about! And even if I did know, I wouldn’t readily admit it anyway!”

Andrew chuckled to himself to hear such a tsundere response, but he didn’t push the matter.

“I see… well… just to set the record straight… in our group, I like everybody. Take that ‘like’ as you will.”

Serena didn’t need to think about that at all, the implications in his words clear enough for her to get it. Where she had been upset, she now felt… relived. Happy, and also very stunned.

“… I see…”

Was all she really said, though she had stopped trying to push him away at the moment, her mind kinda running in circles at the moment with this new information. They stayed that way for a few more minutes, Andrew letting Serena think things over while he simply waited patiently. However, the sound of the fire making a particularly loud crackle forced him to remember that they where currently on watch.

“Well… as fun as cuddle time is, I think we should get back to keeping an eye out… plus, the fire is starting to get low.”

Without another word, Andrew let go of Serena

Without another word, Andrew let go of Serena and helped her to her feet before they both made their way back to the campfire. However, throughout the rest of the shift, Andrew noted on how timid Serena seemed to be along with the stares she would give him on occasion. This continued on even when the next group woke up to relive them from guard duty even until they both went to bed in the tent. Needless to say, it was easy to see that things in the near future where sure to get interesting for everyone involved…


	18. Chapter 18

Hidden Doors

Chapter 18

Jonathan let out a low sigh as he slumped his head, his mind going over perhaps a dozen different scenarios upon walking into that room. None of them were any good, and the fact that he couldn’t see a positive outcome stopped his feet from taking another step. Letting a nervous chuckle come out of his mouth, Jonathan spoke up.

“Frankly, this is perhaps the most nerve-wracking thing I feel I’ve ever had to do.”

Morgana, who was behind him, sighed in a rather annoyed manner.

“It might not feel so bad if you had opted to come here sooner rather than a week later.”

Sarya, who was next to Morgana, looked to the mage woman.

“Hey, Jonathan did what he felt was right. And besides, coming to the Guild managers office is nerve wracking regardless of if your hiding big secrets.”

Jonathan let out a small and pitiful laugh at the elf’s words. Yes, it had been a week since he had returned, and as he had promised Andrew, he had delayed going directly to the guild manager to let them know of what had happened. In all that time, he had tried to keep a low profile for the week so that he wouldn’t be spotted by any other hero parties or adventurers. Something he had been rather successful with thankfully.

However, he still had a job to do, and now was the time to do it.

“Morgana, Sarya… if I don’t come out of that room alive, I want you both to know… I’m the one who stole the last cookie two months ago from the bag.”

For a moment, neither one of them said anything, but then that quickly changed when Sarya, in indignation, looked at him.

“You son of a bitch! You told me a fucking gremlin stole that! I’ve half a mind to wring your damn neck and save the Guild manager the trouble!”

Morgana, for her part, only let out a sigh at the rather stupid piece of information.

“Relax, the guild manager won’t kill you. Probably very angry at you, but not kill you… also, Sarya… it’s a cookie. I’ll buy you more later okay.”

Sarya looked like she wanted to say more, but she decided to hold her tongue. She was getting free cookies later after all. With the silliness out of the way, Jonathan turned his attention back to the office door and knocked once on it.

“Come in.” Was what heard after that.

Taking a moment to take one more deep breath, Jonathan turned the knob on the door and made his way inside. The blonde man took a cursory look around the room, his memory of it not failing him in the least. It was a nice office with decent furniture and many a bookshelf. However, the most dominating centerpiece of the room was the overly massive desk sitting close to the stained-glass window at the back of the room. It was the most eye-catching thing in the room due to the sheer amount of paperwork that was on it. And just visible behind all of that paper was the guild manager of Gwent. A man that Jonathan knew quite well. Mort was his name, and contrary to the odd name, he looked rather young… maybe even younger than Jonathan was. He looked to be in his late teens with slicked back black hair and a very studious and intelligent face. He wore good quality finery for one of his station, even if he looked too young to hold the job. However, Jonathan knew better then to judge the man based on his appearance. He was wise beyond his years and had an intellect that would leave even a Dai-Tengu wet and horny. Mort was busy writing something on a piece of parchment, his eyes glancing up to look at Jonathan before they went back down to signing and writing.

“Greetings Jonathan… forgive my manners, but I’ve many a document to fill out right now. Don’t think I’m not paying attention though; I assure you I have my attention in two places at once. Now, since you’re here earlier then I calculated, I take it your foray into the Shadow Labyrinth went well? That or it went badly… but seeing as you don’t appear to be injured or dead, I can only assume it’s the former.”

Nervously swallowing, Jonathan had to think about what he was going to say next. Honestly, Mort was the guild manager of the Gwent branch of the adventurer’s guild. Even though Jonathan and his party really didn’t answer to the adventurer’s guild, they still had close bonds with the hero’s association, so this was like dealing with his own superior. Simply looking at the man behind the desk, Jonathan decided to go with the best answer he could give at the moment.

“Well… yes and no.”

The sound of the ink pen scratching across paper came to a halt. Mort then looked up from his paperwork with a neutral expression on his face, though anybody with eyes could tell that the mans gray ones were currently running what had to be one hundred and one scenarios in his mind, not one of them being good.

“Elaborate.”

Attempting to fill himself with a little more confidence, Jonathan stood up straighter and put a bold fire in his spirit.

“As you are aware, almost two months ago, myself and my party accepted a request from the Hero’s association to go and investigate the reason for the increased levels of Miasma activity in the shadow labyrinth.”

Mort nodded his head in understanding at that.

“Yes, I recall you telling me this. It had started to affect the creatures in the labyrinth and even some of the monsters in the ocean. I had received a report well over a week and a half ago about a sudden explosion of Miasma out in that direction before it vanished just as quickly. It had many people worried for a while, and some are even saying that it might be the return of one of Oda’s generals… or even the monster himself.”

At that, Jonathan internally flinched. However, he was committed at this point, and thus he continued on like the soldier he was. 

“I can explain what that was. But allow me to explain the events leading up to it first. First and foremost, my party and I had not been able to find anything for the first month we spent down there. Though that’s more in part of the amount of travel we spent rather then of any real searching. Morgana figured that the source would probably be coming from the deeper parts of the labyrinth, thus we tried to get down there to find the source. After the initial month of diving, we had managed to make it close to what we assumed had been the source. However instead of a creature, we found a person. A man who went by the name of Andrew. Anybody who could detect magic could tell that he had a great deal of power in him, and from Morgana’s initial observation of him, he had managed to absorb the raw power of Oda Nobulax.”

Jonathan could see Morts eyes go wide, the shock and surprise maintaining itself there for the moment. Thankfully he didn’t say anything, obviously more interested in hearing the rest of the report before anything else.

“At the time, he had appeared to be in pain, though Morgana’s observation told us that he wasn’t able to hold magic, and thus the power of the tyrant was killing him. After conversing with him for a short period of time, we left him to die there in the tunnel in hopes that with his passing, the power of Nobulax would vanish. However, some days later, we had encountered him on the way back up. He was not alone either, having managed to not only survive, but had managed to make a contract with a Baphomet named Labareda, a Dark Mage woman named Unoma, and was in the company of a swordwoman named Serena. We conversed with I’m for a bit and we had agreed to travel together on account of the Baphomet knowing a faster way out of the Shadow Labyrinth.”

“A faster way you say? That is intriguing… I am also curious about the Dark Mage you mentioned as well. But I apologize. Please continue with the report.”

Nodding in understanding, Jonathan did just that.

“Upon finding this hidden path, we proceeded to make our way through it. But we came to learn later that the path was also a way to the body of Oda Nobulax, though it had been altered and reshaped into the form of a massive axe. Andrew was able to take hold of it and use it with ease. However, a young celestial girl by the name of Aruma had been used to seal it away, the weapon having been lodged in her body to suppress it. Upon its removal, she awoke and is now accounted for Andrews traveling companions. Upon finishing that, we found ourselves in the Den of an Echidna woman named Alyssa, though she did nothing to impede our progress. After that, we quickly made our way out after a few short days and got a boat ride back. After we docked, we separated from Andrew and his companions upon then we waited a few days to rest and recuperate before coming here.”

Mort raised his eyebrow at Jonathan at the last part of his report, the man curious about several things.

“Alright… what was the name of this ship?”

“The Blissful Tide sir.”

“Ah… Kanneth’s ship… she had been ferrying people back and forth from the island for the past few weeks now if I recall… alright then. I understand a few things from your report… but I also have some questions… I take it a Dragon Turtle attacked you on your way back? I’ve heard reports of the Blissful tide having come back with one in tow. And I take it that it had something to do with that energy spike we counted a week back… however, I have one serious question for you in regards to all this Hero Jonathan… why did you not report this immediately? As I am aware, anything to do with Oda Nobulax, no matter how small, should be reported to the closest guild so that the information can make its way back to the Hero’s association. Not only did you do no such thing, but you didn’t bother to try to keep tabs on this man who is now in possession of Oda Nobulax’s horrific power. Is this correct?”

Jonathan kept his eyes straight, but at the same time, there was a nervous energy in his body, the blonde man looking as if he didn’t want to be here in this very room with this very situation.

“Yes sir… I allowed him to leave.”

Mort said nothing, but his gaze sharpened to a point directly on Jonathan, Sarya and Morgana even feeling the intensity from behind the young man. This staring contest went on for a minute or two before Mort closed his eyes and let out a very long sigh.

“Wonderful… just wonderful… you are no fool Jonathan… but this has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard in your many years working for the hero’s association. Let me ask this in sheer hope that you have not taken all leave of your senses… do you have any idea if he is still in Gwent or if he is traveling somewhere?”

Jonathan answered.

“I assume he has left by now. The young girl named Aruma had managed to suppress his power once on the boat trip here, but she was suffering from Mana exhaustion. Since she was a powerful celestial of sorts, I can assume that they planned on taking her to a holy site to help her. However… if I may be permitted to speak in such a manner… he is not a villain. He was an honest and good-natured man… perhaps a little more influenced by his lust then anything, but a good man with a decent heart nonetheless. I was more the one who urged him to leave before I made my report in fear that he might be taken captive or even executed.”

Mort looked back up at Jonathan, seeing good intentions in the man’s eyes, though still filled with some regret of having intentionally waited to make this report. The man behind the desk let out an exasperated sigh before he picked up his pen and extracted a piece of paper. He then began to write quickly across the blank sheet, but at the same time, spoke up again.

“Very well then Jonathan… I am going to have to keep you detained here for a short period of time as I write to the hero’s association. What happens next will be decided by them, but I want you close by in the event they want you to find this man. Honestly, you should have brought him here so that we may determine if he was indeed a threat to the world. If he is as honorable and decent as you say he is, I can only hope that when we send someone after him, that he will come willingly. In the meantime though, you need to stay here. I expect a response from the association within a few hours. Until that time, you are dismissed. However, you are not to leave the Guild under any circumstances or else it will be counted as abdication of your goddess given duty and thus you will be charged with treason and hunted down. Is this perfectly clear?”

“Yes sir.” Was all he said in response, not really trusting himself to say anything else.

“Good. You are free to roam the guild hall at your leisure until I call for you. Dismissed.”

With that said, Jonathan made A small bow before he turned around and left the room with Sarya and Morgana in tow. The moment they left the room and closed the door, Sarya spoke up with a cheerful grin on her face.

“That turned out better than I was expecting.”

Morgana nodded her head as well.

“I also expected a much grimmer outcome for us. However, I expect that withholding information like this will still get us in very serious trouble. We will have to wait and see what the Association has to say on that front. Until then though, I suggest we go and get hammered down in the bar on the lower level. It might be the last time we get to for a long while, if ever again.”

Sarya raised her arm in celebration despite the reason for it.

“I’ll drink to that! I do hope that they can help Aruma before they can track them down though… I’m not even sure if they left town yet.”

Jonathan nodded at her.

“I hope so as well… but only time will tell in the long run… until then, I’ll pay for all our drinks, it’s the least I can do for you both for getting us caught up in my mess.”

Both women looked to Jonathan happily as they all made their way down into the bar, Jonathan looking out a window with a wish that Andrew and his group were doing well and hopefully could get their task taken care of.

Xx meanwhile, seven days of travel away. xX

Andrew dunked his head into the water once again, attempting to wash out the days grit and grime from his understandably dirty hair. The cool water soaked through his hair easily enough, his hands running through it to agitate dirt and oil out of his dirty blonde hair. A moment later and he came back up to get some air in his lungs, though his attention fell to one of his party in front of him. Just like he was, Serena stood in the water as nude as the day she was born, attempting to clean her hair just as he had been doing. However, unlike Andrew, her hair went well to her waist while Andrews hair was only just long enough to extend past his fingers if he grasped it. Pinching his bangs, Andrew tugged on them a bit to see the length they had gotten to.

“Ugh… I need to cut my hair… this is so out of regulations…”

“Why? I like your hair the length it is now.”

Turning to his side, Andrew saw Lab standing next to him, the demon girl looking up at him with her hair down and wet while her body was exposed to him. Eyeballing her chest and exposed pussy for a moment, Andrew then turned his attention back to her eyes before he smiled at her.

“Is that so… sadly, I kinda like it as short as when you and I first met. Makes it easier to keep track of and wash after all. Though if you like it long like this, I suppose I can keep it that way for a little while longer.”

Labareda grinned widely as she embraced Andrew, her face nuzzled into his stomach.

“You would? Thank you Master, you treat me much too kindly I think.”

However, Andrew wasn’t fully paying attention to her words right that moment, the feeling of her exposed body on his groin causing his lust to run wild for a moment. The feeling of his dick starting to get hard caused Lab to look down at her chest and feel Andrews dick start to press into her belly. Looking back up with a sly grin on her face, Lab pressed herself into him a little harder.

“Oh dear master, here I was just trying to give you a hug and you go and start to get a stiffy. I’m happy you like my body so much, but I do think we should perhaps not taint the pond right now.”

Turning to look at something else out of embarrassment, Andrew ruffled her head once as a small form of payback while also getting out of her embrace.

“I know that… can’t help it if you push yourself onto me though. Just reminds me of how small and soft you are…”

Labareda simply giggled as she went back to washing her hair, though her eyes spoke of a promise much later that day to finish what she had accidentally started. Andrew simply let out a small huff at the look, though he was somewhat looking forward to drive his dick into her wet snatch later on. Looking around, Andrew found his attention falling back to Serena, though the red head was giving him an annoyed look over her shoulder. She had been giving him more of those as of late, ever since the night that he had sorta confessed to Serena. She seemed much more comfortable around him since then, even going so far as to allow him to look at her nude body, though she wasn’t allowing for him to touch her yet. Unoma had told him that she was mostly trying to work herself back into it, though he wasn’t sure how the Dark Mage knew this. She had simply told him that it was a woman’s intuition. Though it still left him curious about why she wouldn’t let him touch her while she had been fine with it in the shower on the boat some time back.

Chalking it up to weird womanly wiles, Andrew found himself looking over to Unoma herself, the woman currently sitting in a shallow part of the pond while helping to clean the wings of the reason they had been here in the first place. Aruma was currently sitting patiently in the water, her body just as exposed as everyone else in the pond, the girl running water through her hair while Unoma was helping to clean the girls many wings. Thankfully Aruma had been somewhat recovering by sleeping, so she was able to stay up a little longer, though the longest she was currently able to go without going back to sleep was about thirty minutes. She had woken up when they had made camp for the day and had wanted a bath since it had been a long time since she recalled having one while awake. The group opted to oblige her while also agreeing that they could do with a bath themselves. This ended up leading to the current situation with the whole group bathing, though he did recall that the other groups wanted a turn after they got done. Nodding to himself, Andrew dunked his head into the bath one last time before he made his way over to where Aruma and Unoma were sitting. The two of them gave him a quick look with Aruma smiling and waving at him while Unoma simply smiled.

“Oh? Come to join me in washing Aruma?”

Andrew nodded at Unoma as he sat down next to her.

“That’s the plan at any rate. Unless you don’t want me to Aruma?”

The blonde shook her head at him before holding her hands together bashfully.

“I… I would be alright with that… Lady Unoma has only gotten the wings on my right side so far… so… if you could… please wash the wings on my left.”

Smiling at the request along with the girl herself, Andrew scooted closer.

“Of course.”

Andrew moved himself a little closer to Aruma and began doing as was requested of him, Unoma having to give him a few pointers on wing care and how he should properly wash the wings. Meanwhile, Serena had observed all of this out of the corner of her eye, though she let out a low sigh and turned to look out into the forest in front of her, deep in thought. However, the sound of a familiar voice brought her attention to her more immediate surroundings.

“You know Serena, playing the tease is an effective habit, but that really only works on a man who’s oblivious. You know as well as I do that Master isn’t the insensible type. Or is this just how you like to play? Tease and taunt him until he gets so sexually frustrate that he jumps you when he can’t hold back his raging lust anymore.”

The human red head turned to look at the demonic red head that had snuck up on her, Serena blushing at the mention of the tactic.

“Would it kill you not to sneak up on me like that… also, no. I don’t do that. I’m just trying to mentally prep myself is all… I know he and I had an encounter on the ship some time back, but I was so caught up in being surprised that I kinda just let it happen… now though, I don’t want to be a dead fish just sitting there. Plus, he seems to be fine with waiting. Despite all the chances he takes fucking you and Unoma, he seems to be willing to wait for me… or at least that’s how I see it right now.”

Labareda looked up at the woman with a nod and a smile.

“Makes sense I suppose. He does seem to have a soft spot when it comes to you and Aruma after all… though it makes me curious, how do you want the first time to be with him?”

Blushing furiously, Serena turned away quickly so as not to show it off.

“I…I have no reason to answer you in that regard!”

However, the feeling of a familiar embrace behind her caused her to stiffen up, the soft but wet paws and velvety pads on her front torso telling her who it was immediately.

“Oh come now. Let’s not be that way. It’s just the both of us over here talking to ourselves. Personally, with the way you are, I can’t help but think you’ll want him to take you with the rest of us present. Maybe even participating in on it.”

“I-” was all she got out of her mouth before she suddenly felt Labareda reach up and begin to fondle Serenas modest bust.

“I can envision you laying face done into Unomas bust, the shapely slut using her breasts to seduce you into comfort while Master would be gently eating you out from behind. I would be on top of you, using my soft little paw pads to stimulate your breasts… kinda like now.”

Serena didn’t say anything, her knees going somewhat weak while her mouth did it’s best to keep closed so as to not let a moan come out of her mouth as the familiar used her unique anatomy to fondle, caress, and tease the woman’s bust and nipples.

“Oh yes… I can imagine this going on for several minutes… but just as you’re about to hit that deliciously electrical climax, you feel masters tongue stopping, only for it to be replaced with a gentle prodding into your already gushing pussy.”

One of Labs paws left Serena’s chest, though it didn’t take a genius to know where it was going after such a description. She then felt a velvety softness begin to stroke her vagina, the sensual feeling rubbing itself up and across her slit, teasing and pressing on her stiffened clit.

“Ahhhhhh…”

She couldn’t stop the moan from coming out of her mouth anymore then she could stop Lab from continuing, though if she was being honest, she wouldn’t stop her at all.

However, the feeling stopped a moment later, confusing Serena into turning around, only to see Lab looking away from her with a sheepish look on her face. Looking at where the other red head was looking, Serena could see Andrew looking in this direction, a slightly annoyed expression on his face. It was easy to see who he was currently annoyed with, though the look fell away to an apologetic one when he turned his look to Serena. After shooting one more look at Labareda, Andrew went back to washing Arumas wings. This left the two of them to look at the preoccupied man for a moment only for the both of them to turn to look at each other, Lab breaking the silence between the both of them.

“Well… pity we couldn’t finish… but maybe we can take care of that later?”

The sly and lewd grin on her face only caused Serena to blush even more, the girl somewhat thankful for Andrews interference. After another twenty or so minutes of washing, everyone was clean as they could be without soap and quickly got dressed for the rest of the camp to have a turn in the pond.

Andrew and the rest quickly made their way back to the campsite, the pond itself not being all that far and informed the next two groups that they would take over watching the camp. After a minute or two of them getting in order, Excela, Juliette, and Michelle left to go take a dip. Koyoi and Sazanaka stayed behind as they were busy managing something. Andrew and the rest of the group didn’t ask what they where doing, but Andrew couldn’t help noticing that it looked like some kind of small ritual. Seeing as it wasn’t important, Andrew looked up at the sky to get a good look at the time. The sun hadn’t even really started going down yet, the position of the light and the length of the shadows indicating that it was closer to late afternoon. It had seemed like an odd time to stop, but Kuroi had said that they could do so this day as they had been making some excellent time. Thus they took today to relax more then usual.

Huffing to himself, Andrew turned his attention more to his inner thought about the last week. Thankfully, nothing had really happened that required the attention of anyone pretty powerful, though they had come across signs of larger animals or other things that they should be wary about. Juliette had said she had found traces of goblins in the area a few days back, and it hadn’t been the mamono based ones. She said that it looked to be a small band, nothing that the current group wouldn’t be able to dispatch. This had left everyone more cautious, but Kuroi had said that things would be more concerning when they got to the mountain range separating the planes from Dragonia. That was when they would need to be more careful, and from the sounds of it, they would start to get there in a few days.

Andrew had also made a mistake in his calculations. Taking three weeks to get to Dragonia was the fastest time they would expect on a cart. On foot, it would have taken much longer, though this was true for any other direction they would have gone in. However, the Danuki had said that the group was making good time, so it wasn’t that much of a bummer. Humming to himself, Andrew turned his attention back to the monster slayer group, both of them looking as if they had finished up… whatever they were doing. Feeling slightly bored, Andrew was about to call to them to see if he could get a conversation started, but the look of Koyoi whipping her head around caused him to stop that. She looked razor focused and on alert. Not sure what she was on about, Andrew was about to say something when Lab spoke up.

“Master. I smell something in the distance.”

Now curious along with cautious, Andrew put any questions or comments he had away for the moment.

“What does it smell like?”

“Foul. Disgusting. I recognize the scent easily enough as is. It smells of goblins… though I can smell something else mixed in as well. It also appears to be heading this way.”

Andrew nodded at her in understanding before he turned his attention to Serena and Unoma.

“Get ready.”

Serena only nodded before the sound of her blade rung across the area, the red head getting ready for anything that might happen. Unoma found herself holding Aruma close, ready to blast anything that might try to aim for her. Being out in a large plane had its advantage, though tall grass could be a problem even in the middle of the day. Thus why they heard it long before they saw it. The moment they heard savagely rustling grass a little to the side, everyone just about pounced. However, the next moment and someone bust through the grass, panting heavily and tripping over a large rock they didn’t see as they skidded to the ground in front of the group.

Upon seeing them though, the rock alone couldn’t be faulted for the individual’s trip. The person now currently scrabbling to get back on there feet looked to be a young girl of maybe twelve or thirteen, though the assumption of her age went out the window when one saw the state of her pointed ears. Though she did look young, some aspects of her body indicated of another maturity altogether, her chest size being that of a double D or larger, the one single tribal wrap loosely fitted around her chest not doing much to hamper her large tits. She also had two horns on her head, though one was of an average size while the other looked a little too large, as if it would make the girls head lean to the right if she stood straight. She had short shoulder length black hair that had a single hair band in it that kept it off her face. Speaking of which, said current face was stricken with worry, the girls gray eyes concerned as she stared in a particular direction.

That direction was in the ground in front of her as she had dropped someone when she went tumbling.

“Lissa!”

The large breasted girl cried out as she scrambled to get to the other girl. Like the first one, this girl also looked rather young, she even shared the same black hair, though it was longer than the other girls. However, unlike the worried one, the unconscious girl had a symmetrical pair of horns coming out of the side of the head, and her bust was a modest B cup. She was currently unconscious, but Andrew would hazard a guess that she would share the same eye color as the other girl. They shared a lot of similarities between each other, leaving Andrew and no doubt others present that they might have been related, Maybe even siblings. Such thoughts quickly fell to the wayside though as a quick observation of the two indicated that they looked very bad in regards to physical health. The both of them shared many cuts of varying severity, open and untreated, while also looking to have more bruised skin then anything healthy.

The girl with the lopsided horn was already next to the other girl, trying to pick her up, seemingly oblivious to the current situation. That changed when Unoma spoke up, the woman keeping Aruma close to her in the event they proved hostile.

“Who the hell are you two?”

Hearing a voice for the first time, the conscious girl whipped her head up to see who had just talked, her eyes wide in fright. However, it didn’t take long for the fear to slip away.

“You… you’re… are you adventurers?!”

Before anybody had the chance to answer, the girl started to tear up, her voice cracking.

“Please! Help me and my sister! There’s a bunch of evil goblins chasing us! We just got away from them! They’ll kill me or Lissa if we go back just to make a point!”

It was very easy to see how distraught the young lady was, the tears in her eyes and the sheer amount of panic and fear quite visible on her face. However, nobody got much of a chance to respond to her request as a moment later, the grass exploded outward yet again, this time with what looked to be a group of seven or more traditional green skinned goblins. Almost everyone reacted to the sudden intrusion, Koyoi and Sazanaka already having weapons out and making moves to intercept the goblins. Serena was a little later than the both of them, but she moved to do the same. Unoma simply muttered a few words under her breath and a sudden shimmer in the air in front of her indicated she had put up some kind of barrier, no doubt to protect Aruma as she clung closely to the Dark Mage. Labareda stayed back to analyze for a moment as she summoned her flaming scythe, the Baphomet twirling it as she prepared for her next move. Andrew was the only one who didn’t react at all, his brain not sure what to do in this situation. However, he could see that the goblins had their attention on the two horned girls, which caused him to react by moving to protect the two girls. In a flash, everything had exploded into action, Andrew only focused on getting between the two girls and the goblins obviously intent on doing harm to them. The first to actually intercept the goblins though was Sazanaka, her axe sweeping in a wide upward arc through two goblins that had been close enough together for her to kill on the spot. Off to her right, Koyoi had thrown what looked to be paper talismans into another two, her hands rapidly forming gestures while she muttered words under her breath. The next instant, the talismans connected with the goblin’s bodies and the sounds of miniature explosions caused goblins innards to violently evacuate through charred and flying flesh.

Serena for her part had to work a bit more then the other two, the red haired swordwoman intercepting a goblin that had grown a brain in a matter of three seconds. Upon seeing four of its brethren taken out in the span of a breath, it and the rest had stopped charging and instead had taken up more defensive maneuvers. This forced Serena to aim for the closest one, though it had a dagger like sword up in some manner of defense. However, it didn’t have much more strength then a common goblin, which meant little to the enchanted swordwoman. The upturned blade for defense proved useless as she battered it to the side and sliced the goblins torso open. However, the other two goblins could see that the two young girls were wide open, and made a beeline for them. The one girl tried to nab her sister and back peddle as quickly as she could, but she couldn’t get a grip on her in her panic, and could only scream out in fear as the goblins closed in quickly. Andrew, who had been running to help, put on more speed in his legs to help, the first thing he thought to do was kick the closest goblin. Dashing past the two girls, his foot came up to meet the first goblin right in the torso. However, it had some mind to try to retaliate against him, and he was rewarded for his effort with the feeling of kicking the goblin out of the way, but also with getting a nasty cut across his lower leg when it tried to swing at him.

“Agh!”

He felt the sharp bite of the blade, but he didn’t have time to register it as the second goblin had used the firsts sacrifice to leap at Andrew, the dagger raised to stab him. Andrew could see it happening, but he couldn’t think of what to do, his mind drawing a blank. However, he didn’t need to worry as he felt something run past him and launch into the air. Lab, who had stayed back, had dashed forward when she saw Andrew was in danger and cartwheeled through the air with her scythe in hand, the sizzling blade cutting right through the skull of the goblin. She then found the goblin Andrew had kicked and quickly impaled it with the blade of her scythe before she quickly turned back to her Master.

“Next time, I suggest you use a weapon rather then your bare limbs to fight.”

Andrew, who was currently kneeled down to nurse his cut leg, smiled up at her with a slightly strained smile.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time. For now though, you might wanna keep an ear out for anymore of the little bastards wandering around. We don’t know if they had more then this.”

The sound of the crying girl speaking up caused him to turn around.

“N-no… this was the whole group after us… but… it’s not all of them.”

Andrew was a little confused, but Sazanaka speaking up caused everyone to look at her.

“An interesting thing of note, but let us regroup and take care of the Hob and the goblin. They both appear to be in bad condition, and I think they might need healing… along with Andrew-dono.”

Andrew was curious by what she meant by Hob and Goblin, but he quickly concluded she was talking about the two girls.

“Makes sense. Take care of the two girls first. They need care a lot more then me.”

Serena spoke up next, the woman kicking the body of one of the dead goblins.

“Okay… what do we do about these?”

Koyoi dismissively waved towards the bodies.

“Ignore them for the moment. I will dispose of them at a later date.”

With that taken care of, everyone agreed to head back to the camp. Andrew, wanting to save some small amount of face, opted to help the girls behind him.

“Here, let me help your sister… I heard you call her Lissa. Do you also happen to have a name?”

The girl with the lopsided horn looked at Andrew for a moment, slightly cautious, but at the same time, looking worn out enough to not exercise said caution.

“Alyssa… my name is Alyssa…”

Andrew blinked in some curiosity at the name.

“Oh? That’s a good name. I find it funny that you call yourself that though, mostly on account that I know an Echidna by that name as well. Odd coincidence aside, my name is Andrew. If you feel uncomfortable around me, feel free to let me know and I’ll do what I can alright? But in the meantime, let’s get you and your sister back into…”

Andrew had moved to pick up the one named Lissa currently on the ground as he continued to talk. He hadn’t distracted himself from his current task and wanted to make the girl feel safe and more secure, however, he found his attention deviate when he went to pick up the girl from the ground and found that she was missing something from her lower legs. That being the feet that went on the bottom of said legs. It took his mind a moment to catch up with what he was seeing, but Andrew finally did and tried to take in more of what he was looking at. The stumps appeared to be wrapped in dirty cloth of sorts, caked in slightly damp blood as if they had been there for a while now. Seeing his reaction, Alyssa spoke up.

“The… the goblins cut her feet off to make an example out of her… me and Lissa had tried to escape several times before… with more of our sisters… but…they… they’re all…”

The girl tried to speak up, but her voice caught in her throat, and she started to make a low crying noise. Realizing more of the gravity of what he was looking at, Andrew looked to Alyssa in sympathy.

“It’s alright… you don’t need to say anything more… let’s get you and your sister to the camp… you both need rest and healing.”

The girl simply nodded her head, her hands coming up to wipe away tears coming from her eyes. Andrew felt his heart start to sting at seeing her expression, but opted to put it to the back of his mind so he could take care of the other girl on the ground. Before picking her up, Andrew checked to see if the one called Lissa was even still alive. Thankfully she still had a heartbeat and was still breathing, though her body was tinged with many wounds and her frame felt light and thin. It made her easy to pick up and carry, though Andrew noticed that Alyssa was rather shaken and didn’t seem to want to move. Moving over to her, and bent down next to Alyssa and exposed his back to her.

“Here, climb on. I might not be good in a fight, but I’m sure I have enough strength to carry two tired girls.”

The Hobgoblin looked at him momentarily confused, but she quickly got the gist of what he was saying and simply nodded, a small sob escaping her lips. She tightly clasped her arms around his neck and held on as if this was the only real and comforting thing in her life right now. Nodding to himself while feeling his heart sink further, Andrew stood up with both girls and made his way over to the camp with everyone else. As he made his way to the camp fire, he saw Kuroi poke her head out from the flap on her wagon, the Danuki woman looking around quickly before she spoke up to everyone.

“Judging from the fact that everyone seems alive and well and that my cart isn’t being raided, I take it that the goblins have been eliminated?”

Labareda answered her in response as her scythe vanished in a plume of fire.

“That would be correct. However, we will be keeping watch for any more of them in case they send another group. Obviously, they where chasing these two for a reason, and I get the feeling they won’t stay away.”

Andrew put Lissa and Alyssa on the ground next to the fire pit before he turned to look at Lab.

“True, there is probably a reason for it, but I think we should heal the both of them first before we start talking about it. The one named Lissa is currently missing both her feet and both of them look as if they’ve been starved for a while. Anybody here know how to heal? And if they do, can they regrow a severed pair of feet?”

It was easy to see that he got a lot of attention when he said that, however, the only one to speak up was Sazanaka.

“I apologize, but I do not have the ability to impart healing on others. Milady?”

The silver haired woman turned to Koyoi, the miko looking at her partner for a moment before she turned to look at Andrew.

“I can maybe do something about healing… but regrowing severed limbs is outside of the ability of my onmyodo magics.”

Before anybody could comment further, the sound of people approaching caused everyone to turn in the direction it was coming from. Thankfully, it was easy to see that it was the Hero party, however, they had been approaching with weapons in hand, and much to Andrews pleasure, completely nude. Excela was the first to call out, a large lance in hand.

“Is everyone okay!? We felt the presence of monsters and came back as quickly as we could!”

The situation was quickly explained to the three, causing them to thankfully take less aggressive action, but also leaving them with some serious looks on their faces at the mention of goblins.

Julietta nodded her head in understanding before she turned to look at the two goblin sisters.

“So, the goblins were chasing these two mamono? Alright… also, you’re trying to find someone who can heal? I believe I can be of some assistance here.”

Michele nodded her head at her brown haired frined before she looked at everyone else.

“Yeah, Juliette is a warpriest of sorts. And a pretty powerful one at that.”

Andrew smiled at the blond drilltail before he looked to the warpriest.

“Okay… good to know. But can you regenerate lost limbs?”

For a moment, she looked at him before she mulled it over for a second.

“I… It might take a while to do so, especially if I have to do it for both her legs. I’ll get to healing them both up first, but if anyone happens to have a scroll of regeneration or a potion of it, it would be a lot faster.”

As she started to heal the two goblin girls, Andrew turned to look at his own group for a second, though he knew for a fact that nobody had this potion or scroll.

“On a very off chance, Any one of you got one?”

As predicted, the answers were no, forcing him to turn to look at the next best bet. That being Kuroi as she stepped out of her cart only to see Andrew looking at her. She held his gaze for a few moments, the both of them having some kind of silent conversation between the both of them before she spoke up.

“I know what you’re about to ask, and the answer is yes, I do have some potions and Scrolls of regeneration. However, I would like to point out that I’m not going to hand them over for free. Your going to have to pay for them.”

A second later and Serena shouted out in surprise.

“Say what?! We have a girl missing her limbs and your going to charge us for using something to heal her?!”

Kuroi turned to look at Serena with a neutral look on her face.

“Look, if it was literally some recovery potions or something along those lines, I would have been more then happy to give them to you to heal yourselves. But a potion or scroll of regeneration is not cheap, and I have these backordered, so if you want them, you’re going to need to pay the price the original customer paid for along with some additional fees since by doing this, I’ll be breaking my customers trust.”

Serena still looked like she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t find fault in the logic she just heard, though she still was awfully angry at the fact that someone would charge people for helping someone.

Andrew, for his part, mostly understood where Kuroi was coming from in regards to her words, so he didn’t ponder on it. Instead, he opted to simply ask.

“So, how much would it cost to buy one?”

The Danuki seller didn’t even hesitate when she threw out the price.

“A scroll is going to cost you about 700 Gold while a potion is going to be about 500. That is with the added cost by the way. Of the two options, I would pick the potion on account that you seem to only be using it for the one time. The scroll would allow you to use it several times, but I’m sure that’s not a big concern for you right now given the urgency.”

Andrew wasn’t sure if that was a high or a low price, but seeing as a ship ride only cost him a few gold coins, he felt it might have been high. He then looked to Labareda who was in charge of safe keeping all the money they had.

“Could we buy one according to our funding?”

“We could, but it would take a good deal of our money, and I don’t know if we would have enough to stay in dragonia for any period of time.”

Before they could begin debating it though, Michele spoke up.

“I’ll buy the potion if you’re willing to part with it.”

Everyone turned to the blonde woman, mostly in surprise, but none so surprised as the members of her party. Kuroi turned to her and simply nodded.

“Alright then, if you have the money I can go ahead and give it to you. Or to the individual who needs it.”

Michele nodded at the Danuki.

“That would be a big help, thanks.”

A few moments later and Kuroi vanished into her cart, leaving everyone to look at the warrior. Andrew was the first to break the silence though.

“That’s… uh… I don’t really know what to say other then thank you very much. Also, why though?”

Michele simply smiled at Andrew before she put her hands behind her head.

“Mostly just trying to help is all. Both you and the goblin girl there. However, I do have an ulterior motive, so don’t think I’m just going to hand it off to you without some kind of payment. We’ll work that out later though, let’s see about getting them healed up first.”

Andrew could only agree with her, and a moment later, Kuroi came out of her cart with a potion in hand, the Danuki carefully handing it off to Andrew before she went over to collect her payment from Michele and her group. While they were getting that sorted out, Andrew made his way over to Alyssa and her unconscious sister before he bent down next to her. Juliette was also there, the girl healing the wounds of the Hobgoblin while Alyssa was busy looking at her sister in dejected worry.

“Hey Alyssa… I happen to have obtained this potion that can heal your sister. Do you mind if I use it on her? Or would you feel more comfortable doing it yourself?”

Alyssa looked at Andrew quickly in surprise, as if she wasn’t sure what she was hearing was real or not. However, she did finally process it and answered him meekly.

“Y-you can do it…”

Andrew nodded his head at her before he turned his attention to Lissa. He then looked at the potion in his hand and pulled the stopper off. It then dawned on him that he wasn’t sure if this was a something that needed to be injected orally or if he if it was alright to just pour it on her. Opting to go with some level of logic, Andrew decided to give the potion to her orally. It took him a moment to remember how to do it without making her choke on it, but Andrew managed to get the contents of the bottle down the goblin girls throat. After that he and Alyssa both sat and watched Lissa to see if it would take effect.

Needless to say, the potion did not disappoint.

At first, he wasn’t sure what to expect when he made her drink it, but a few seconds later and he watched as the girl’s body began to heal itself, the cuts sealing themselves back up, the bruised flesh returning to a normal color. even her feet that had been missing quickly regrew in a matter of moments, a thing Andrew had never expected to ever see in his life. Alyssa was overjoyed at her sisters healing, the hobgoblin jumping onto Andrew with sheer joy and many words of thanks escaping her lips at her sister’s recovery. Andrew could only smile and pat her as she embraced him tightly, the young man happy for her as well. However, he had to eventually pry her off of him so that Juliette could continue to heal Alyssa, though not before the goblin girl could get several more words of thanks and another big hug in. Feeling rather content with himself, Andrew made his way back over to where everyone else had gathered, all eyes turning to him as he walked in on the circle. The first to speak to him was Kuroi oddly enough.

“I take it that she has recovered?”

“Yeah, she’s looking a lot better than she was a few minutes ago. Her sister is really happy about it and wouldn’t let me go.”

Sazanaka smiled at him.

“So we saw.”

Koyoi however didn’t share her partners smile, the same neutral look on her face that she always had.

“It is good to see that she has recovered, but I believe we should get to discussing about this current situation. Most importantly, the two mamono and why they were being chased.”

Michele (who in the time Andrew had been away gotten herself dressed in some small clothes along with Excela) turned to look at the Zipangu demon slayer.

“Why else would a monster goblin chase down a Mamono goblin? To force her into breeding more of it’s ugly ilk.”

Andrew, along with others from his group, showed varying degrees of interest in that statement, but Andrew was the first to voice it.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Just as it sounds. Any normal monster gets hold of a Mamono and we end up with an issue on our hands. Especially with goblins, little bastards breed faster then rabbits if they get a hold of a goblin mamono. We’ll need to talk with the two sisters about the situation, but for now, we should probably let them rest.”

With that one statement, Andrew could roughly grasp what was being mentioned, and he honestly didn’t like the sounds of it. However, Serena wasn’t sure what the woman was talking about and opted to speak up.

“Sorry, but seeing as I’m not a native to this world and missing memories, why is a Mamono getting into the hands of a monster a bad thing?”

Excela looked to the red headed twin tail with a curious gaze.

“Oh? You’re an offworlder then?”

Serena nodded her head at her in answer. Excela hummed in thought for a second as she processed that before she spoke up.

“I see. Well then, let me explain what we are talking about then. You know how Mamono and the like came to be?”

“Yeah, I know that.”

Excela nodded in understanding.

“Excellent. Well, at the very core of there being, a Mamono is still a monster of its race only given succubi traits through the power of the Demon lord who currently is in power. It’s why Mamono have such nice bodies after all. Those added traits were originally supposed to make it easier for Mamono to breed with human men and try to sire male and female offspring. At first it wasn’t working very well, but when Oda invaded and pretty much destroyed a good majority of the world, both the chief god and the Maou had to come together and get the world repopulated. This resulted in the Chief god allowing for Mamono to breed males in their bodies and being able to get pregnant more easily, but it came at the cost of lowered pregnancies for human women, that way the world could balance itself out with a more even ratio. However, at their core, Mamono are still a type of monster… no insult intended for those present. And since Odas power still is in the world and creating new monsters, said monsters can very easily breed with the Mamono counterpart of their species. For a hero party like ourselves, we actually are supposed to give priority to saving Mamono if they should fall into the clutches of monsters. Human women come second.”

At the end of the explanation, Serena nodded her head, though she looked deeply troubled.

“So… what kind of problems can occur from a Mamono being captured.”

Koyoi spoke up next.

“An explosive surge of that particular monster is one such thing. Usually they end up forming war bands around monsters who have captured Mamono and use them relentlessly to make more soldiers for their war bands. Monsters born from the union of a Mamono and a normal monster tend to grow up quickly and are birthed rapidly in large numbers. The worst of these are goblins, which is why I feel we should question the two sisters on how long they had been captive, and how many times they have been forced to give birth. Judging from what the hobgoblin sister said, there might be more Mamono captive. I won’t pressure them though seeing as the both of them only just escaped, maybe after some rest. But we shouldn’t hold off for very long.”

The other groups nodded in understanding, though Andrew and Serena looked to each other with rather uncomfortable looks on their faces. For the next little while, nobody said much of anything, Sazanaka and Koyoi having left to go and bathe and Excela’s group getting dressed. Thankfully Juliette finished healing up Alyssa, the hobgoblin girl looking much better than she had earlier, but still only willing to stay by her sisters’ side. Aruma had fallen back to sleep, and in a rather clever suggestion, Unoma said she would watch after both the goblins and Aruma as they rested. Nobody could disagree with this, and thus everyone set about to do what they needed to get the day closed up. However, as everyone set about, Andrew found himself drawing his attention to Michelle. Having noticed his look, the blonde drill-tail smiled at him before she walked over to him, it being easy to see that he wanted to talk.

“I notice you want to say something, what’s up?”

Andrew thought about it for a moment before he opted to just speak his mind.

“Well… for starters I want to thank you for helping the goblin sisters. You didn’t need to go out of your way to do that, but you did anyway. So, again, thanks for that.”

“Aw, I said don’t worry about it. Besides, like I said, I wasn’t just doing it to be charitable after all.”

Andrew nodded in understanding.

“Yeah, and that’s why I want to talk with you. You obviously want or need something from me if you went out of your own pocket to pay for a potion that was really expensive. I’m more then willing to pay you back of course, but I’m curious about what it is you might need from me.”

Michelle simply smiled for a moment before he decided to answer his question.

“Well… seeing as It no doubt will bother you, I’ll go ahead and let you in on a little something… I kinda wanted to hire you and maybe one of your companions for a little… something.”

Cocking his head curious, Andrew curiously asked.

“What kind of something? And who else?”

Michelle quickly glanced over in a certain direction, Andrew following her gaze to find himself looking at Serena as she had just bent down to pick up some firewood for dinner later on. His attention found itself on Serena’s ass for a few moments longer then it should have, but Michelle speaking up caused him to divert his attention back to her.

“You and Serena. I wanted to hire you both for… well… a few things. One of which being training. I wanted to test myself against her and help you get some training in.”

Andrew nodded, though only in some bare sense of understanding.

“Alright… I guess that makes sense… but there has to be more to it then that.”

“Ha! Obviously… I actually also wanted to see if I could get you and your cute red headed friend in bed with me at the same time. And maybe do it enough to where I can get my 500 golds worth from the both of you.”

Andrew blinked a few times at that, though he felt a mirth rise in his chest that caused him to chuckle.

“Huh… well, I’m sure you could have paid for cheaper male hookers in any town, but sure, I don’t mind that. However, I should feel inclined to tell you that I don’t know how Serena might feel about it. She does exhibit a lot of lesbian tendencies, but at the same time, not sure how she might feel about a threesome.”

Andrew failed to notice that both Labareda and Unoma, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, could only snicker at that before they themselves turned to look at the woman being mentioned. Serena, not sure why both Unoma and Lab where chuckling in her general direction, could only give the both of them a confused look before she went back to work. Andrew managed to miss all of this however, and had his attention on Michele as she nodded.

“I see… Though I am curious about that seeing as you group with two mamono. I figured she would have been alright with sexual relations like that, or am I just assuming you all like to do it together?”

“Well… I haven’t actually had sex with Serena see. I’m trying to take it slow with her since she’s kinda in a state right now with her body changing into a Mamono, and I don’t want to take advantage of her.”

Michele let out a low ‘ahhhhhh’ as she came to understand what he was talking about.

“Gotcha. Quite the gentleman though aren’t you? I can wait a bit, we still have a few weeks to get to Dragonia after all. Though I would be lying if I said I wasn’t eagerly anticipating what she thinks about it.”

“He he… I’ll see what I can find out at a later date. For the moment though, thanks for answering my question.”

Michele simply smiled at him in answer before Andrew waved at her and walked away, his mind putting one of his current worries to rest. Making his way over to Unoma and Labareda, he saw that the dark mage was currently seated with Aruma’s head in her lap. Labareda was currently sitting next to her with her eyes out and about on the area in the event of anymore goblins. He came to a halt and sat down in front of the two of them, Lab and Unoma turning to look at him.

“Alright, now that we finally have a moment to ourselves-”

Unoma smiled before she cut him off.

“Time to engage in a group orgy?”

“Tempting Unoma, but not right now. No, was Aruma hurt at all in that scuffle?”

“Not at all, she might have been rather scared, but I made sure to keep us protected. You all managed to deal with the goblins before I actually had to act.”

Lab nodded her head along with Andrew, but she spoke up a moment later.

“Speaking of… that was a rather foolish thing for you to do, to charge an armed enemy without a weapon of your own in hand.”

Andrew grimaced at Lab’s words, the young man unable to refute anything about her statement.

“Very true, but I just kinda acted without thinking. I’m not used to actually using a weapon in actual combat, but I’ll see about changing that in the future.”

“I hope you do; it would be negligent of me as your first familiar to let you get hurt over something that should be well under your current power to deal with. We will see about training more in surprise situations in the near future. How is your leg by the way? I noticed you never got it healed. Does it still hurt?”

Surprisingly, when Andrew focused on it, he noticed that it didn’t hurt at all. Looking down and pulling his leg out, Andrew pulled his pant leg up to see that the wound was already healed, the only indicator to the injury being the dried blood on his leg and pants.

“Huh… looks like it’s already healed up… I take it that has something to do with my magical power?”

Unoma looked at his leg for a moment before she responded.

“You would be correct. That’s probably due to your passive energy naturally healing you. Minor cuts like the one you sustained shouldn’t be much of an issue anymore. Though do be careful in the future as we have no idea of the strength of your healing or what it might lead to if you should suffer a fatal wound dear Master.”

Andrew nodded in understanding.

“Got it. I’ll be careful… Anyway, I need to talk to you all about something… well, more like I want to bounce some ideas off of you to see if something I’m thinking of is plausible.”

Lab cocked her head to the side curiously.

“Would you like for me to call Serena over?”

“No need, I’m already right here.”

Everyone looked over to the side to see that Serena was already standing close by, the twintail taking a seat in the little circle they had going.

“So, what are you all sitting around talking about?”

Andrew looked to her for a moment before he looked beyond Serena. He had drawn his attention to the two Goblin girls for a moment as if to indicate where the topic was about to go.

“It’s about Lissa and Alyssa. Mostly this is just going to be me piecing together some things I heard and major amounts of speculation, but I think it would be best to get some facts and theories going before we have our big powwow with the rest of the group.”

Labareda looked at Andrew for a moment before she turned to looked at the goblin girls.

“I see… that makes sense. So, what exactly are you thinking about?”

Andrew breathed in a little bit, as if he was about to begin a presentation, before he let out a small sigh and began talking.

“Well, to start it off, I wanna get to the basic of what exactly has transpired here with these two. Given from what I could glen from the information presented and from what I gathered from Alyssa, the two of them managed to get away from what appears to be a large group of goblins. Considering they had sent eight of them after these two as a scouting party, we can assume that the main group or base has a much larger number at its disposal. If I was to hazard a guess on how big of a group… maybe somewhere in the upper forties or so? I don’t know how goblins work though, so that could be a vast overestimation or a gross underestimation of what the actual numbers are. We can assume that they got to such numbers through Alyssa’s sisters. I don’t know how many she has… but I’m going to be honest here, I get the feeling they aren’t alive anymore.” 

Serena cocked her head to the side curiously, though the look on her face was a bit grim in the face of such depressing news.

“What makes you say that?”

“Two things. Something Alyssa said that would indicate they aren’t alive anymore, and the sheer condition of the two girls when they showed up. Lissa had her feet cut off so as not to run away, indicating this isn’t the first time they did. I don’t want to think about it, but even if they are precious for breeding purposes, I have a feeling that these goblins didn’t care much for the lives of all the goblin sisters. If they had more goblin girls to brutally rape, they probably would have done more to kill these two rather then bring them back… and I think even at the end of it, they might have killed one of them to break the others spirit anyway. But that’s just me speculating.”

Unoma let out a low sigh, the Dark Mage speaking up.

“You wouldn’t be far off the mark. Even back before the world wasn’t as it was today, Goblins were notorious for killing and eating the women they used to breed.”

Serena actually looked appalled by what she heard, the twin tail opening and closing her mouth a few times in an effort to get something out of it.  
  


“I… that’s… so terrible…”

Labareda let out a low sigh before she sadly looked to Serena.

“Even if the world has changed much in the fourteen hundred years I’ve been sealed up, some things don’t change about these little bastards.”

Nobody said anything for a moment, though Andrew opted to not let the heavy mood linger.

“Well… there isn’t much we can do about it at this point. For now, I believe we need to stay vigilant in that we might come under attack by more goblins in the future. They sound stupid, but at the same time one should always be under the impression that someone smarter has the upper hand. Or at least that’s the way I think.”

“Agreed Dear Master. We have yet to get a full picture of everything presented, but we should remain cautious.”

Andrew simply nodded in agreement before he looked around at everyone.

“Alright then… I don’t have anything else to add to the discussion seeing as that’s all I had managed to come up with for the moment. Anybody have anything else they wanted to say or add?”

Serena spoke up this time, something worming it way into her mind at one thing Andrew had said.

“I do. You think that the goblins have a large force right?”

Andrew nodded.

“That’s what I think, I could very well be wrong though.”

“Alright then… so, from the sounds of it, these green skinned goblins aren’t that smart, os does that mean that they have a leader? Maybe not another goblin, but something else?”

Andrew thought about it for a moment before a look of concern came over his face.

“That… could very well be a thing to worry about. But we don’t have a lot of information to answer that kind of question right now. Something to ask the sisters when they wake up later. Anything else?”

Serena shook her head.

“No. I don’t have anything else to add.”

“Alright then… Lab? Unoma? You have anything you want to say? Any thought or ideas of your own?”

Unoma shook her head at him while Lab answered.

“Nope. Nothing else.”

“Alright then… well, if there isn’t anything else. I think I’m going to go ahead and call the meeting to a close.”

Everyone agreed with his idea, and the group set about getting ready for dinner, though Andrew honestly couldn’t help but look in the direction of the two goblin sisters, the young man wondering if things where about it get more hectic.

**Author's Note:**

> Looking for feedback


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